Summer Love
by winterkaguya
Summary: Once upon a time in Konoha Kindergarten, two 5 yr-old re-lived the aged old rivalry between the Hyuuga and Uchiha up until one summer day when they turned 16, something changed. Has their enmity turned into love? Will he lose her to his Aniki? SasuHinaIta
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...if I did, nobody's gonna buy it...(sniff sniff)**

**A/N: Here's the second part of the Four Seasons of Hinata's Love Series...yup!!! I begin this with the second season – Summer. And its called 'Summer Love'. Read on to find out who is our dear Hinata is being paired with. **

**Warning: Slight AU with some spoilers, perhaps bad grammar and bad language along the lines**

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**PROLOGUE**

_**Which one is it?? Where is the room?? Why is it all white?? **He screamed to himself. A tall male in a cloak and mask was running into a building with neverending corridors leading him to god knows where. _

_He ran all the way after his mission with his partner right close behind him when the Hokage broke the news to him after they arrived back from a covert operation which covered a number of ANBUs. _

_He knew something was wrong when he made his way back. That sinking feeling in his stomach sunk so low into his gut that wretch and twisted his insides like some fruits in a blender. _

_**Damn! I should have known! It was so soon! ** His thoughts were playing in his mind. Regret was pilling in his gut and he knew he was going to be in trouble for being late._

_Finally turning to his left, he saw several familiar faces stared at him. There was some mix emotions running through their faces. _

_**Thank God**. He prayed silently._

_His thoughts now moved towards the door that stood before him. It was big and white. But he narrowed his dark eyes and went on ahead until somebody pulled at his arms._

"_When did it happened?" he asked. Running his hand through his hair. He felt like such a failure. Unable to be there and protect her._

"_Just this morning," a very icy reply responded. _

_He did not need to turn around and see who spoke such icy words. The image was already burning in his mind. The only one stumbling block in his life. Neji. _

_**Great! I forgot about that one.** He cursed silently to himself._

"_Boy, if anything happens to my daughter, I'll have you as my target practice," the older Hyuuga said. His arms crossed, looking at the young man with much contempt._

_**Great…just great. He's as bad as his nephew. What is wrong with all these Hyuuga men!!** He glared at the two male Hyuugas and nodded his head._

"_It might not be a good idea just barging in," a woman with dark wavy hair and piercing red eyes said to him._

"_I have to," was the only thing he could say. His heart was beating so hard that he feels everyone in the corridor could hear it._

"_TEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a loud scream screeched from inside the room. All of them could feel a very very frightening aura from behind those doors. The aura that could kill. _

_He gulped – nervously._

_Finally found his courage, he pulled away his arms from Kurenai and walked through the doors. _

_**Don't worry. It won't be that bad. Its just nothing**. Saying to himself. Trying to convince himself that it was nothing bad._

_Then, he saw her lying with blood and sweat. His heart just plunge down from it's ribcage._

_Sakura and Tsunade were there. Tsunade was practically covered in blood while Sakura held a basin of water which was filled with the crimson colour of her blood. Her blood!_

_He paled instantly as his heart had taken a deep plunge down into the swirling pool of his guts when he saw her in total pain and agony that he can't even begin to describe it._

_He went by her side and put his hands into hers. Her pale lilac eyes looked into his dark onyx ones. Her eyes filled with so much pain and anger. His was filled with sorrow and regret._

_Before he knows it, he felt her grabbed at his shirt collar and was wringing his neck, screaming in agony, "SASUKE-TEME!! YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU DID THIS TO ME! You heartless bastard!" _

_Sasuke was stunned. He never knew her to use such words against him. She was the one never to use such vulgar profanity. He suddenly felt small and insignificant._

_Tsunade chuckled at the exchange and said, "Help her through this Sasuke, she was in labour since early this morning and she needs you by her side." Sasuke nodded his head._

"_And don't worry about the language. Its perfectly normal. You ought to listen what Tenten was screaming when she had hers," Sakura gave him a smile._

_Sasuke looked at the Hokage helping Hinata to deliver. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as he reached his wife. Hinata was tossing and turning. Obviously in pain. How long she had been in this condition, he was clueless. He had no idea women were in this much pain when delivering babies._

_**I must get her a present when all of this is over and also flowers every day**__. He mentally reminded and promised himself to appreciate the woman who carried his child for the whole nine months and suffer the brunt and pain of delivering it._

"_Alright Hinata," Tsunade said. "The baby has finally turned correctly. And on my count to three, I want you to start to push."_

_Hinata held onto him again. Her face was contorted in various stage of pain. Sasuke paled instantaneously everytime Hinata gripped his hands. It was like as if she's cutting the blood supply to that part of his anatomy. The smell of blood was so strong that Sasuke felt it nearly gagged him. The situation, the atmosphere, the air, the blood and the scream all filled in his head that he had gotten a little dizzy after a while._

"_Alright Hinata," Tsunade said. "One-two-three PUSH!"_

_Hinata pushed with all her might that her back arched a little while giving her husband a death grip on his poor hands. Sasuke's lips thinned as to hold on the pain that Hinata is putting him through. Her breathing turned into lapses of sharp intakes of breath as she stopped pushing. Her face was laden in sweat and she looked completely exhausted._

"_Okay Hinata, I need you to push again, and harder," Tsunade said from where Hinata was already spreadeagled on the birthing bed._

_Sasuke gulped and kissed his wife's hand and said, "Don't worry, Hinata. I'm here."_

_Hinata turned to look at her husband and muttered tiredly, "Du..Ducky….when…this is…is…. over….I'm going to….give you….your…your…..beating."_

_Sasuke managed a smirk when she affectionately called him by his nickname as he moved the wet strands from her forehead._

"_Tomato-hime, I don't care how bad you're gonna give me that Hyuuga beating," he said lovingly, stroking her cheeks and added, "As long as you're with me, I'd lay down my life for you."_

_Hinata managed weak smile and began another series of pushes. Sasuke strained to look at the birthing process. In fact, he was curious. Bloody curious._

"_I wouldn't recommend it, Sasuke-kun. Lee-kun did not take it very well, though,," Sakura said, wiping the sweat off Tsunade's forehead. _

_Sasuke didn't care for other's opinion and looked at the birth of his firstborn. The sight, the smell and the atmosphere did it. Sasuke was already pale when he barged in. But the situation which Tsunade was handling was waaaaaaay too much. Even for him. _

_He did the inevitable._

_He fainted._

_Sakura sighed and Tsunade chuckled._

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_As Sasuke fainted. He dreamt. Remembering the summer of how it all began. Their first love. Their summer love._

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**A/N: I hope all of you like the prologue. This is just the beginning explaining how it all happened. I bet all of you could've guessed it was Sasuke huh?? Hahaha….its quite predictable I know. Why I chose Sasuke was simple, he was my last option. I was planning on having him in Winter's Tale. But the **_**other**_** guy was more suitable for **_**that**_** theme. And I also apologise for not having any outtake in this part. **

**Currently not in the mood of having an outtake. Maybe in the later chappies….so, enjoy reading & dun forget reviews!! Reviews make me happy & I do so love reading all your reviews….it makes my day…..**

**Before I forget, I'm gonna upload the chappie for the third series – Autumn Farewell. Hahaha….I'm gonna put it up maybe next week. If possible. Anyways, dun forget to comment & review ya???**

**Kaguya-kiut out**


	2. Kindergarten Crush

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto….I wish I did…..**

**A/N: This is the second cycle of the season – Summer. There'll be a time skip in this fic, and if there's anybody who don't understand what the time skips are for, message me. I'll be more than glad to explain. **

**Oh yeah, I made Hinata here more 'adventurous' and 'confident' than usual. Its like experimenting with a more 'back-boned' Hinata here. I hope you guys like it!! And this chappie mostly introduced them when they were kids….**

**Warning: Slight AU with some spoilers, bad grammars and of course, bad language…**

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**CHAPTER 1: KINDERGARTEN CRUSH **

**Konoha Kindergarten: 17 long years ago:**

It was a perfect summer morning at Konoha Kindergarten. They were only five years old when they first met, at the kindergarten's playground. He was alone playing in the sand, ignoring the chirping of other girls hovering around him until his class teacher came up to him……with her.

Her indigo coloured hair was short with long sharp bangs at the side and purple coloured ribbons tied at the side to give her the extra-cuteness factor. She looked remarkably cute with chubby baby cheeks and was dressed in a pretty ivory cream lace dress with knee length white socks. Her large sparkling lilac pale eyes showed no fear when she first met him, only a little shy because he was the first boy she has met so far in school.

His hair was short and spiky with bangs on the side of his head. Dressed simply in white shirt with high neckline and dark blue knee length pants. He had a band-aid across the bridge of his nose. His deep dark black onyx eyes just stared at her. He couldn't be bothered by her presence, thinking that she'd be another one of the annoying girls in his class.

"Now, Sasuke-kun," Nanami-sensei, their pre-school teacher cooed at Sasuke, the dark-eyed boy. "This is Hinata-chan, and she is new here. Would you like to play with her?"

Sasuke looked at the grey-eyed girl and then looked up to Nanami-sensei and said, "Why me?"

Nanami-sensei's eyes was twitching like mad as she was trying to coax the anti-social boy to accept the new student.

"Well," Nanami-sensei began. "Since you have a lot of friends, I would think that you and Hinata-chan would…err….bond, naturally."

Without any expression, Sasuke replied, "These girls have been pestering me since last year, Nanami-sensei. Why would I want to add another one?"

_This kid is only five years old and he's so full of himself! He's getting on my nerves now._ Nanami-sensei said to herself, obviously irritated by Sasuke's vanity.

"B…Bu…But…we like you, Sasuke-chan!" the petite girl with blonde pigtails wailed at him. Sasuke glared at her.

"Don't call me that, Pigtails," Sasuke muttered angrily, shoving some sand on Ino's pretty little shoes. Ino burst in fresh tears that got everyone at the playground looking at them.

"Hah! Serves you right, Ino-pig!" a pink-haired girl grinned.

_Oh god, not Ino-chan! She'll drive the other kids to cry as well! I've got to calm her down!_ Nanami-sensei looked a little panicky as she dropped down on her knees before the little girl in pigtails.

"Please Sakura-chan, don't say like that to Ino-chan. Come now, don't cry, Ino-chan," Nanami-sensei was trying to quell the little girl. "I'm sure Sasuke-kun did not mean that."

Hinata looked at her teacher. She was trying very very hard to control herself from crying at the rude dark-eyed boy before her.

"Its okay, Nanami-sensei," Hinata said and looked at Sasuke. "I don't want to play wit this wude boys."

Everyone stared at her silently. Even Ino stopped her crying and looked at the new girl.

"Wha….what…did you say, Hinata-chan?" Nanami-sensei asked again, her eyes blinked in confusion.

Hinata's pale eyes were more determined as she looked at Nanami-sensei and then glared at the dark-eyed boy. With much effort and energy, holding back her tears at the same time.

"I do not want to play with him. He….he….is wude," Hinata replied in her amazingly cute voice and then bowed politely to her teacher, stuck her tongue out at Sasuke and walked off to the other side of the playground.

"Tch," that was the only sound he could make.

_How dare she! Sticking out her tongue at me! _ Sasuke was pissed. He threw the plastic spade on the ground.

Everyone just didn't know what just transpired.

Hinata walked towards the first place she could find to hide herself and then burst out her tears. She was never been publicly humiliated like that. In front of her new teacher, new classmates. This boy had the nerve to….to….urrghhh….she was so irritated with him. There's no _WAY_….Hyuuga Hinata….will lose to…to….that…that…arrogant…jerk!

As she walked, she did not realised where she was heading until she saw a huge tree before her. Walking behind that tree, she sat down among the gnarling roots that spurted off the grounds like wooden limbs. She sat down and pulled her knees up to her chin and cried her heart out. She had _never_ met anyone so rude before in her life!

Thinking back the incident when she first met him, he looked pretty adorable, but lonesome despite several girls dangling around him. He just ignored them all. She thought that was amusing, at first. How would it be if they had…..become….friends? Well, only if…..

To him, she was just another annoying girl. Like those that surrounded him. Ino who always wore pigtails on her hair has the most earth shattering voice that could take down Mount Everest! Then, there's the annoying twins, Rikako and Rikuko (I created them up) with their disgusting 'over-doing-it' hairdo that resembled dangling curled noodles that he hates so much.

And also, another annoying girl from his class that gives him the creeps everytime she calls out his name, but what was her name? Oh yes, Sakura. His number one rabid fangirl. That was another annoying girl who always dressed in pink. He hates pink.

Sasuke looked at the pale-eyed girl and felt a little….guilty. _Guilty_?? The great Uchiba Sasuke _guilty_?? What would his big brother think?

Sasuke crossed his arms and turned his head aside, thinking about what his brother would think of him. But at the same time, he stole a glance at the lonely pale lilac eyed girl alone by the large tree.

But, it would be nice though…..to have….a…a..friend. Sasuke looked down. He knew what he did was wrong.

Only if……they had the chance.

From that moment, the close enmity and legendary rivalry between Hinata and Sasuke began since their pre-school era. Even their parents thought it was cute. Silent killer glares over the class was something not uncommon. Even their classmates feared their enmity and would silently gathered to the opposite end of the class when they could feel heat radiated whenever Hinata and Sasuke glared one another.

Name calling was a frequent verbal attacks between the two. It finally boiled down to either 'Duck Butt' for Sasuke and 'Tomato Freak' for Hinata.

Hinata called him 'Duck Butt' for Sasuke's hair which resembled awfully similar to a duck's backside. And for Hinata being called a 'Tomato Freak' was because of her obvious blushing whenever she was embarrassed over something or anything.

To spite her even more, Sasuke frequently pulled her hair and stole her ribbons. He would also sometimes find something to scare her by putting weird bugs and insects in her bags just to see her scream or cry in fear. But Hinata wasn't the type that would scream whenever she sees bugs or roaches. One of her close friends was Aburame Shino who came from a clan who masters the chakra eating bugs. Hinata was used to all sorts of bugs and insects.

For every bullying she gets from Sasuke, she retaliated by ruining his lunches and kicked him whenever they were an arms length from one another. Sometimes, Hinata would take the opportunity to smack his head whenever he gave the 'tch' sound.

However, Sasuke's bullying did not went unnoticed by a certain somebody. Hinata's over-protective-psychotically-possesive cousin was always around. Hyuuga Neji, known as Hinata's personal protector and guardian was only a year older than Hinata and he frequently walked Hinata to school as he went for his just opposite. He also kept constant eye on Sasuke when he caught him pulling Hinata's hair and made her cry.

From that moment, it was hatred at first sight.

Neji hates Sasuke. And, if Neji hates Sasuke, Sasuke loath the Hyuuga genius. Their feeling was pretty mutual the first time they met.

It was time to go home. As usual, little Hinata was waiting at the playground for Neji to pick her up when Sasuke walked up to her.

"Hey Tomato Freak!" Sasuke smirked maliciously and then pulled her hair and stole another of her ribbons.

"Duck Butt! Come back here wit my wibbon!!" Hinata was screaming as she was chasing him around the playground. The scene looked cute to everyone. But not to Nanami-sensei who just sighed. Knowing that after it was over, Hinata would catch up on Sasuke, sit on him and beat him up. And instead of Hinata crying, both would be crying their tears out. It was the same old routine.

Before Nanami-sensei could act. A tall long-haired boy with the Uchiha symbol on the back of his shirt strode to the playground. Sasuke stopped laughing and running when he saw his older brother.

"Onii-san," Sasuke murmured, looking up at his older brother who was 9 years old. Hinata also stopped chasing after Sasuke and looked at the other dark-eyed Uchiha.

"Sasuke," Itachi said. "Its not nice for you to do that," he added. Taking the ribbon away from Sasuke, he knelt down before the young Hyuuga heiress, wiping the tear stained cheeks with his hands.

"Here, I believe this is yours?" Itachi asked, tying the purple coloured ribbon back on Hinata's hair.

Hinata's wide pale lilac eyes looked into Itachi's dark obsidian ones. She was mesmerized by what he did.

"A..Arigato…onii-sama," Hinata managed a smile with a pink tinge on her cheeks.

Itachi grinned at the shy Hyuuga and pinched her cheeks.

"You're awfully cute and you blushes," Itachi said.

Hinata went into another shade of pink that borders to red.

"That's why I call her Tomato Freak!" Sasuke stamped his foot. He didn't like the exchange between Hinata and his older brother. Itachi took away his chance of stealing another one of Hinata's ribbons.

"That's not nice, Sasuke," Itachi reprimanded his brother. "All Uchiha men are gentleman and here is a young Hyuuga girl, and I believe she's a lady."

Sasuke ignored his brother and looked away.

Itachi then turned to Hinata and asked, "What is your name, princess?"

Hinata blushed shyly and said softly, "Hi…Hinata."

"Hinata-chan? That's a very sweet name, and I'm sure my kid brother here cannot see how sweet and cute you are," Itachi grinned as Sasuke growled at his brother. "My name is Itachi, and I'm Sasuke's big brother."

Hinata's eyes brightened. Liking Itachi almost immediately. She also recognized him as the Uchiha genius. Her father talks a lot about him.

"I…Itachi…nii-san," Hinata stammered softly, looking at him.

"That's cute," Itachi smiled and ruffled her hair. "Are you waiting for someone? Or do you want me to walk you home?"

Hinata nodded her head. "I….I'm waiting for Neji-niisan and he…he's at school opposite. But I don't know why he is late today."

"Hmm….do you want us to walk you back? We can do that. I don't mind and I'm sure my brother wouldn't mind either."

"_What_!! No way I'm going to walk with Tomato Freak here!" Sasuke objected immediately which Itachi ignored.

"Whatever it is, I'll tell your sensei to tell your Nii-san that we'll send you back. Is that alright, Hinata-chan?" Itachi asked.

Hinata brightened immediately and nodded her head.

Itachi then walked towards Nanami-sensei and told her about walking Hinata home and of course Nanami recognized the Uchiha genius and gave him her permission.

So, Itachi with Sasuke on his left and Hinata on his right were walking back to their homes. Sasuke was burning with envy when he saw Itachi holding Hinata's hands and after that, Itachi bought Hinata an ice-cream cone. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Itachi cleaning Hinata's face and nose with a napkin when she gotten her face messy with ice-cream and they were both laughing.

_Stupid Nii-san. Why should he waste money and time with a pathetic girl like that??_ Sasuke muttered angrily to himself as he threw away his ice-cream cone. He hates anything sweet while glaring at Hinata who was spending time with _his_ brother.

Itachi knew his brother was seething with jealousy. And it felt good. He also knew about the ribbons Sasuke collected and hid in the bottom drawer of his study desk. Itachi have always wondered where did Sasuke get those ribbons? And now, he knows. Itachi smirked at the thought of it.

To further aggravate his younger brother, Itachi looked at the adorable Hyuuga heiress who was skipping while holding his hands.

"Hinata-chan, are you tired?" Itachi asked.

Hinata's wide pale eyes looked up at him. Her eyes was so full of love and trust. It almost wrench his heart away whenever he looked into those beautiful expressive eyes.

Hinata nodded her head. "A…a…little Itachi-niisan."

"Come, let me carry you," Itachi said, motioning Hinata to climb up his back. Hinata blush another shed of red as she moved shyly to his back and climbed up.

Itachi could feel Sasuke's killer aura and smirked to himself. Teasing his brother was his favourite hobby.

_Why can't he just leave her alone??!!_ _She's my property and not his! He can't do this to me!! And why is she getting on his shoulders!! That's my place!! _ Sasuke was raging in his mind.

Hinata looked at the younger Uchiha and said to herself, _What is wrong with that Duck Butt?? He didn't say anything much today and his face is also as red as tomato! But, why do I care??_

As they reached the Hyuuga Manor, Itachi put down the sleepy looking Hinata. "Here we are, Hinata-chan. Your home." He said, ringing the door bell by the huge wooden gates.

Hinata beamed at him and said shyly, "Arigato….Itachi-niisan."

"Its okay, Hinata-chan," he said, kneeling before Hinata.

"A…ano…Ita..Itachi-niisan!" Hinata called out to the older Uchiha boy as he got up. Itachi knelt before her again.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?" Itachi asked, his dark obsidian black eyes looked at her. Hinata gazed into his eyes and smiled shyly with another hint of pink ran across her cheeks.

"Ari…Arigato, Itachi-niisan," Hinata thanked again and gave a small kiss on his cheeks. It was Itachi's turn to blush as his dark obsidian eyes widened in amazement. His first kiss from a five-year old, and he was liking where this was going. Hinata was simply too adorable to reject. He kissed her cheeks back.

If there was anything such as a million shades of red. Hinata definitely discovered those new shades of colour!

Sasuke was waaaayyy beyond seething. He glared angrily at Itachi and then at Hinata. He can't believe what had just transpired.

"Good bye Itachi-niisan!" Hinata waved at him and then she looked gloomily at Sasuke. The joy which was evident in her eyes automatically dissipated the moment she set her eyes on the younger Uchiha. "See you, Duck Butt!" With that, she stomped off into the Hyuuga complex with Sasuke muttered angry frustrations while kicking the ground.

"_Duck Butt_??" Itachi was trying to contain his amusement. But, it was not working. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Sasuke glared at his big brother. "Its _not_ funny, Onii-san. I call her Tomato Freak."

Itachi was laughing at his younger brother and said, "Sasuke, if that is your way of winning a girl's heart, you'll never win her – ever!"

Sasuke gave a death glare to his brother. "I'm not trying to win her heart and besides, I don't like her!"

Itachi knew better. "Is that so? Then, care to explain what are her ribbons doing in a box in your drawer?"

Sasuke blanched almost immediately when his brother discovered his dirty little secret. He froze on the spot and eyes wide. Hating every minute of it. He turned his chubby faced cheeks to his brother. His eyes glaring angrily at Itachi.

"Yes Sasuke, I know about that little secret of yours," Itachi smirked at his brother. Sasuke continued to glare at his brother, despite the blush was evident on his cheeks.

"Well, continue with your devil-may-care attitude, Duck Butt," Itachi was 'killing' him by now. Sasuke slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"But, the more you being Duck Butt, the more you will lose her, and who knows. I might be lucky," Itachi added, stealing a glance at his brother.

Sasuke froze instantly with his dark eyes wide open. He turned to his big brother and muttered angrily to himself.

Itachi was grinning and smirking all the way back to the Uchiha compound followed by a very angry Sasuke.

The thought of Itachi taking the one and only thing that made Sasuke felt powerful was something Sasuke cannot accept. Not only was Itachi, the darling of the family, the pride of the Uchihas and Konoha's legendary genius, he was also about to steal away his one time pride and victory – Hinata's attention.

Sasuke knew that Hinata wasn't like the other girls in the kindergarten or all around. She was the only girl who ignored and insulted him and he wasn't going to let her get away with it. He had done everything to make her miserable and cried all the time. And that made her retaliated against him by making his life equally miserable. It made him feel good.

To be honest to himself, he likes quarrelling with Hinata and there wasn't many boys in his class to pick a fight with. Only Shino and Shikamaru and they weren't close with one another. Shino was busy playing with his bugs while Shikamaru was just plain lazy. Hinata was rather close with those two and he didn't like that very much.

The very next day, Sasuke gave Hinata a death glare and in return she stuck her tongue out at him. He walked up to her and pulled her hair. She retaliated by stomping on his feet.

Shikamaru looked at the two of them and muttered boredly, "How troublesome."

And those were the times they spent everyday before they finished kindergarten and moved into separate middle school.

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**A/N: Alright. This chappie mostly introduced them when they were younger. Hold on your horses, it'll get better as long as it goes. I know I'm taking my time. Sorry if it's too brief….I'll update soon….hmmm…depending on the reviews I get!!**


	3. The Inevitable Meeting

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto….I wish I did…..**

**A/N: Wow…I love ur reviews ppl!! Reviews make me happy And this is the second series of the season – Summer. There'll be a time skip in this fic, and if there's anybody who don't understand what the time skips are for, message me. I'll be more than glad to explain. I even skipped their middle school years coz they just went into separate school before coming together for their genin exams. **

**Oh yeah, I made Hinata here more 'adventurous' and 'confident' than usual. Its like experimenting with a more 'back-boned' Hinata here & I also lose most of her stutter since I think she'll might outgrow it in time. I hope you guys like it!!**

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**Warning: Slight AU with some spoilers and bad grammars**

**Neji/Tenten/Lee/Gaara – 15 **

**Hinata/Sasuke & the rest of rookie 9 – 14 **

**Itachi – 19**

**Temari – 18 **

**Kankurou – 17 **

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**CHAPTER 2: THE INEVITABLE MEETING**

**Konoha Academy: 9 Years Later**

Sasuke slouched over the pillar of his school. He didn't look any different, except he had gotten a little taller since middle school, and was starting to lose his baby fat around his cheeks. He was still as hot as before, girls still flocking around him and his fan club had gotten bigger throughout the years.

"Oi Sasuke! Did you hear the news?" a hyperactive looking blonde in bright orange called out to him. Together with another bored looking guy with who casually crossed his arms and leaned against the pillar.

Sasuke didn't say anything but acknowledge his close friends as they approached him.

"I overheard what the teachers were saying in the staff room that next week, girls from Sarutobi Academy will be transferred here for the Chuunin exams!" the blonde exclaimed.

Sasuke didn't bother to look at his friend, but just grunted.

"This overactive kid almost went all on fours like a dog on heat when the word 'girls' and 'coming' were in the same sentence," Shikamaru pointed.

"So what?" Sasuke finally said something. "It has nothing to do with me."

The bored one raised an eyebrow and said, "True, but hyperactive Naruto here couldn't gotten over the fact that the girls will go after _you_ and _not _him. And I guess he's still pissed with the Sakura incident."

"Oi Shikamaru!" Naruto muttered angrily at the Konoha's No. 1 lazy-assed nin, Nara Shikamaru.

Sasuke was already grinning. He knew how much Naruto likes Sakura and the thought that the orange-coloured knuckleheaded ninja losing to him was simply sheer happiness in his books.

"Don't talk about Sakura-chan that way," Naruto grimaced at Shikamaru who sat on the floor leaning against one of the walls next to Sasuke.

"You're just being troublesome, Naruto," Shikamaru added.

"Sakura-chan is the _preetiest_ girl in all of Konoha and she's so dreamy in her cute little outfits," Naruto sighed dreamily. Daydreaming _and_ lusting after Haruno Sakura. President of Uchiha Sasuke Fan Club. It appears that the perverted aura of the Ero Sennin had rubbed if off on the young orangey knucklehead of Konoha.

"Your fan club will grow more, Sasuke, when these new girls arrive," Shikamaru added again.

"Whatever it is, Shikamaru. It still has nothing to do with me, and I couldn't care less about the blasted fan club. Only if they'd just leave me alone," Sasuke replied grimly, glaring at the group of girls waiting by the gates.

"Hell," Sasuke's black onyx eyes glaring at the girls who were waving at him. "I've got to find a way to get out of here. Until I master the teleportation jutsu, I know I'm not going to be safe."

At the age of fourteen, Sasuke was already maturing faster than he looks. Extremely good-looking and very popular with the girls (and also….boys), Sasuke was the archetypical stereotype of icy, cool and very much anti-social. Your typical bishounen kinda guy. With his spiked up hair and bangs at the side, complexion of pale and milky white, he could passed on as being 'beautiful' that got girls swooning over him and he has the largest female fan base in the whole of Konoha. Not even his even more talented big brother could outdone him on this field.

Girls from neighbouring schools sighed whenever he walked pass them. Some would automatically faint when he even glance at them! It goes from bad to worse whenever he goes out for mission, girls from other villages or cities would just drool at the sight of him. Often times, Sasuke wished he'd just die rather than be bothered with it.

Sasuke hates attention, especially coming from a bunch of loud, nosy and clingy girls. He just despise having them around.

Naruto and Shikamaru are Sasuke's bestfriends and were also typically good-looking.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto said. "Why don't we play a game of basketball while we figure out a way to 'smuggle' you out without your fans suffocating you? I'll get Kiba, Shino and Chouji along!"

"Tch," was the only thing Sasuke said and he nodded his head.

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, going towards his favourite spot underneath one of those large trees on the grounds and lie down. Gazing up to the blue sky with thick looking clouds floating.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

**A week later:**

The girls from Sarutobi Academy finally arrived in one full bus load. Two female teachers were the first to came off the bus and were dressed in jounin vests walked before the girls who came out from the bus. The girls got out slowly and nervously. Some looked anxious, some looked shy, some were excited and some were snobbish-looking.

"Welcome to Konoha Academy," the young woman in a long jacket holding a pink coloured pig said. "I'm Shizune and representing the Hokage to welcome the girls from Sarutobi Academy."

"I am Sarutobi Oboro, Vice-Principal of Sarutobi Academy and this is my niece, Sarutobi Ayame who is also one of our instructors," a lady in dark wavy hair and clear blue eyes introduced.

"We are honoured that Konoha Academy welcomes our participation," Ayame said as they were being led into the halls of Konoha Academy.

The Hokage, Tsunade made the move of combining young nins from both academies for the benefit of Konoha. Konoha Academy serves all future nins in their trainings and practices as well as the genin exams and preparing them for the Chuunin exams. Konoha Academy also serves as the main education and training centre for Konoha's nins.

The history of Sarutobi Academy is somewhat different. Konoha Academy was established by the first Hokage for the purpose of training future nins of Konoha. The Sarutobi Academy was established by the females of Sarutobi clan before the 9-Tail attack incident, and was basically an all-female nin academy which is slightly smaller than the co-ed Konoha Academy. Aside from that, the Sarutobi Academy are well-known for its medic-nins and their education basically concentrating on healing and medications. Most of the finest medic-nins came from Sarutobi Academy and served in the hospitals, medic centres and also in various organisations. Since the all-female school catered for female nins only, their nin exams are all conducted by Konoha Academy, according to the nin laws in Konoha established by the first Hokage.

After much dissension and disagreements between both sides, the current Hokage felt that there should not be a dissession and ordered for a merging between both schools. And since Sarutobi Academy was the smaller of the two, it was only natural for it to absorb into the bigger Konoha Academy. Much to the objection of the Sarutobi Clan, they had no choice but to comply the Hokage's orders.

"I can't believe we're going to Konoha Academy!" Ino squeeked happily, clutching Hinata's arm. "I heard Sasuke-kun is studying here!"

Hyuuga Hinata froze on her spot. Her eyes twitched irritatedly. Ino gulped nervously.

_Oh Kami. I've spoken the forbidden word! _Ino's mind went erratic.

Hinata could not bear to be in the same place where Sasuke was. Her pre-school years was filled with traumatic experience that drove her to hate men to the point of exaltation of a new religion! The only male that she could bear to be with was her father and Neji. And because of that, she went to a separate middle school especially for girls, and eventually to Sarutobi Academy. All until now.

"What….did….you….say?" Hinata asked, turning to the blonde next to her. Slowly emphasizing the words.

Ino looked nervously at her bestfriend since middle school. They weren't close in their pre-school years, but only bonded when they entered middle school.

By far, Hinata is the sweetest person in the world. She would do anything for her friends and will go in length for them. She also has the nicest and gentlest manner of a young noblewoman, but by the mentioning Sasuke's name, her expression changed totally. It was like a whole different Hinata altogether.

"Err….gomen Hinata-chan," Ino apologised. "Sa…Sakura-chan….she…she…said that…Sasuke-kun….he…he is here…in…Konoha Academy."

Hinata's normally sweet and gentle expression turned serious.

"Neji-niisan is here as well. I so hope I don't get to see that Duck Butt anymore," Hinata muttered angrily. Thinking back the last time they both met. It was during their kindergarten graduation.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

**Flashback: 6 years ago**

**(A/N: They joined kindergarten when they were five and stayed there for three years until they were eight. So, you do your math)**

_Finally. That day has come. Hinata was happy because she will be finishing kindergarten and Itachi promised to come and see her graduate. Hinata was also sad that her father was not able to come due to some what more important Hyuuga duties. And Neji, it was a sad case. Neji's father passed away a few years ago and he blamed Hinata's family for letting his father died __**(1)**__. Neji never did know the truth about how his father died, he only knew that his father died for the Main family. And he hated them for it. He also hated Hinata for it. He didn't want to hate her, but the thought of losing his father just for the Main family made his blood boil._

_The cruel treatment Hinata received from Neji hurt her real bad. She really care and love her cousin. She tried reaching out to him and comforted him, but only to receive a slap and ridicule from him. But no matter what, Hinata could never ever hated him. It was not even his fault._

_And there was __**no way **__he is going to attend her graduation with her._

_Her mother was gone some years back and Hinata felt lonely, except for Hanabi. Hinata loved her little sister and was always spoiling her, but Hanabi was too young to come. Until Itachi offered himself to come as her guardian. Besides, that Duck Butt had his parents._

_Hinata wore a very pretty ivory silk kimono with lavender floral patterns and purple butterflies and her obi was of matching lavender colour. Her hair was much shorter now except for the two bangs at the side of her hair held by lavender ribbons. Hinata just simply looked adorable. With her chubby rosy cheeks and large pale eyes, Hinata was simply too cute to resist. _

_Even for the imposing Itachi. He couldn't resist her cuteness when he reached the Hyuuga Manor. Apparently, Hiashi went to Suna for a business deal representing the whole Hyuuga Clan that he wasn't around for Hinata's graduation ceremony. Silently, Itachi was glad because secretly, he despised the Hyuugas. They were too cocky and stuck-up for their own good. Well, all except for sweet Hinata._

_When they arrived at the kindergarten, they immediately proceeded to the hall where all the children and their parents gathered. Sasuke was particularly happy that he would be graduating soon and he won't have to see that Tomato Freak any more. _

_Dressed differently than usual, little Sasuke looked remarkably cute in his dark male kimono outfit. His chubby cheeks were red from being constantly pinched by gushing mothers and annoying aunts. His fan club expanded to include older girls from middle school wasn't helping either. Ino was being plain loud, the twins were doubling his agony and worst…..the pink disaster._

_**Urrghhh**__….Sasuke groaned to himself. __**Is Nii-san coming today?**_

_Sasuke didn't know that Itachi would be around until he saw his brother, he was happy! His big brother was his hero and idol coming to his graduation. But slowly, his happiness fade and was replaced with a frown. He came with __**her**_

_Sasuke didn't know how to respond at all to that. His eyes darkened and his frown was deep that his mother noticed the scowling sound emitting from her youngest son._

"_Sasuke, what is wrong honey?" Uchiha Mikoto asked her son as she looked at the direction of Itachi and Hinata._

"_Awww…isnt't that sweet? Itachi is bringing Hinata-chan for her graduation! I'm going to have that little talk with Hiashi for abandoning his daughter on such an important day! I'm sure Karura will not be happy about this if she's still around," Mikoto fumed at the thought of Hiashi being ignorant about the welfare of his daughter._

"_Hiashi is a busy man, Mikoto. We shouldn't intrude on his business," Uchiha Fugaku said._

"_Whatever it is, Hinata-chan is still his daughter and Karura was my bestfriend, Fugaku," Mikoto argued._

"_Hai hai," Fugaku gave up. Arguing with his wife is the last thing he would want._

_Then, Mikoto sighed. "Hinata-chan is so adorable."_

"_No she's not!" Sasuke said, crossing his arms across his chest and stood defiantly. Still glaring at his brother and Hinata who were still holding hands._

_Both Fugaku and Mikoto looked at each other and were obviously amused by their youngest son's sudden attitude. _

_Itachi finally spotted his family and brought Hinata with him._

_Hinata bowed respectively at the Uchiha family and glared back at the youngest Uchiha._

"_Tomato Freak," Sasuke muttered furiously._

"_Duck Butt," Hinata replied with equal sarcasm._

"_Awww…aren't they adorable, Fugaku?" Mikoto gushed. "Well, calling each other affectionately is always a start of a beautiful relationship, and who knows, soon enough they'll be girlfriend and boyfriend."_

_Both Hinata and Sasuke almost choked to death and their eyes twitching madly._

_Itachi held tighter his grip on Hinata's hand when he heard his mother's comment. Right now, he didn't feel like letting go. _

_The graduation ceremony went on smoothly, for now. Nanami-sensei knew better than to put Hinata and Sasuke at one place. Throughout their seating arrangements, she put Hinata to the left end, near the aisle and Sasuke the furthest opposite end. _

_It was plainly obvious to all the kids in Konoha Kindergarten about the enmity between the young Hyuuga and Uchiha. Death glares were exchanged between the two of them and those who sat right in the middle were too frozen to do anything. Even Sasuke's fangirls were avoiding the two of them whenever they were having one of these dagger-throwing glares._

_After the ceremony, everyone headed out for a light refreshment. Amidst the talking adults and bustling children, a certain Uchiha was irritated beyond control. Looking at how cosy Hinata and Itachi was, Sasuke still cannot forgive the both of them._

_**Tomato Freak. Who humiliated me in public. I will never forgive her. Calling me….calling me…..arrgghhh**_

_Sasuke cannot help it any longer that he couldn't finish his sentence. Everytime he thinks about her, his blood boil. His gripped his own fist till the knuckles turned white. Then, he looks at his older brother._

_**I wonder what she sees in him. She's NOT cute. Nii-san is not as cute as I am. **__ Little Sasuke was angry at his brother. Well, jealous was more like it. And it was plainly obvious. But for the wrong reasons. It was obvious that he was pissed mad with his brother for finding out about those ribbons three years ago. But, he was more pissed at the fact that Hinata preferred Itachi over him!_

_Sasuke didn't know why it bothered him so much that Hinata was not gushing over him like all others. He was used to that, but he was not used to rejection. He can't deal with rejection. He's bad with rejection…_

_Itachi was the only one who noticed how pissed his little brother was. He smirked at his younger sibling. Which added more fuel to the raging fire. _

_**What is wrong with Duck Butt??** Hinata thought to herself, stealing a glance at the fuming youngest Uchiha. **He certainly look….uncomfortable**. She sounded worried._

_**Why am I worried about that Duck??** Hinata's eyes went wide in shock._

"_What is wrong Hina-chan??" Itachi asked affectionately. His long ponytail hanging from his left shoulder. Looking every inch the good-looking 'villain' in Sasuke's books._

"_What is wrong with Duck Butt?? He looks…..grouchy," Hinata asked in her innocent voice._

_Itachi smiled at Hinata and then look at his brother. He smirked._

_**Hina-chan???? That's it Nii-san. When I get stronger and more powerful, I'll wipe that stupid smirk off your face with my fist!**__ Sasuke promised to himself. He can't believe Itachi went calling Hinata in such a manner. Although Sasuke is close with his brother, but when it comes to competition, Sasuke hates to lose and being compared to his more talented brother._

"_Don't worry about him, Hina-chan. He's just being…emo. And ignore him, don't let him get to you," Itachi replied, without looking at his brother._

_Hinata nodded her head obediently as Itachi hold her hand and walked to Mikoto, Fugaku and Sasuke._

_Sasuke then looks at Hinata. He scowl. Showed faces. But, she did not react. She ignored him! He was furious that Hinata laughed a lot with Itachi, just because he says something to flatter her. _

_Her presence just burns him and he feels he needs to do something about it. _

_He stomped to where Hinata was and did it._

_He pulled her hair and took her ribbon – again!_

_Everyone was stunned. It was like time had just stopped._

_Hinata didn't know whether she ought to break down and cry or just start beating up Sasuke to a pulp. Then it hit her. He is definitely going to be one dead duck!!_

"_DUCK BUTT!! Come back here with my ribbon!!" _**(A/N: Yup, Hinata outgrew that 'wibbon' thingy)**

_Hinata started chasing the offending Sasuke around the halls screaming for her ribbon back. The adults all thought it was cute. A young Hyuuga and Uchiha. That would make a very ideal match._

"_They'll make a wonderful couple," Mikoto gushed. "And I like Hinata-chan, she's so adorable. Only she alone can make Sasuke react that way. Usually he's very quiet and devoid of any emotions where girls are concerned."_

"_Yes, they do," Fugaku agreed as they laughed looking at the young ones._

_**Not if I can help it**__. Itachi said to himself. Looking at the two younger children. He didn't know why he is feeling this way, but he can't help feeling the tranquility the young Hyuuga heiress has over him that make him feel a certain kind of possesiveness over her. Unlike Sasuke, Itachi always share things with his brother. But this time, he don't like the idea of sharing. Not even with his own brother._

**End Flashback**

&&&&&&&&&&&&

**Back at Konoha Academy:**

"The girls are finally here!" Kiba exclaimed excitedly, with his pet dog Akamaru in his jacket.

"Where! Where!" Naruto was looking down.

The boys were up on the roof top when the girls from Sarutobi Academy arrived. Sasuke was sitting and leaning against the wall while Shikamaru was lying down and gaze up in the sky. Chouji, as usual, munching away with his bag of chips and Shino was sitting next to Sasuke.

"Hah!! There you boys are! Iruka-sensei have been looking all over for you," Ebisu, the bespectacled man was saying. "You're having two new classmates coming in and he wants you boys to get your asses down there at once."

Only Kiba and Naruto were excited. The rest of them couldn't care less after Ebisu left.

"How troublesome…..Lets go now," Shikamaru said as he got up. Everyone looked at him.

"I'm the class monitor and I've got to do my job," Shikamaru defended himself. They just stared at him.

"Are you sure??" Kiba grinned at him slyly.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes upwards and said, "I know I'm such a lazy-ass, but it doesn't mean that I'm irresponsible and do irrational things like you do." Walking off, leaving the pissed-off Kiba.

Slowly one by one followed Shikamaru back to class. Only Sasuke left.

Naruto noticed this and said to Kiba, "You guys go ahead, I'll get that teme back to class." Kiba nodded his head and left with the boys.

"Oi teme, c'mon, lets go," Naruto said.

Sasuke glared at him. Although the orange-clad boy before him is his bestfriend, he couldn't understand it himself why did they become best buddies in the first place. It was not like he's gay or something, he's perfectly straight, but being friends with Naruto was definitely a challenge…..to his ego (A/N: Not sexually of coz!! This isn't a yaoi….although I wish it was).

"Dobe," Sasuke glared at him as he got up.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

After all the briefing and introductions. The girls then proceed to follow their respective teachers to class.

Luckily for Hinata and Ino, they were in the same class and their teacher was this young man with a faint scar across his cheeks. Iruka-sensei.

Wearing a large fur-trimmed baggy jacket, and a three quarter black pants, Hinata looked demurely plain. With her short indigo coloured hair and bangs at the side, she was still adorable. Her cheeks still retained the baby fat and was always rosy.

Unlike her bestfriend, Ino. Who was glamorously dressed in a dark blue dress with high slits at the side and white tights underneath. Her long blond hair was tied up into a ponytail. Her painful experience with Sasuke calling her pigtails still registered in her nightmares. She became more beauty conscious and it was the beginning of her intense rivalry with Sakura.

After pre-school, both Hinata and Ino found themselves in the same middle school and same class. They became fast friends after Ino forgave her for insulting Sasuke and after Hinata forgave her for being….Ino.

"Don't worry about the class, they are fine….its just the boys you might have a problem with," Iruka-sensei was explaining to the two new girls that were going into his class.

He noticed that the pale-eyed girl was a little shy and plain. He identified her as one of the Hyuuga clan and her eyes cannot be mistaken for other clans. He knew he wouldn't have problem with this girl in his class. But the other one was another matter.

Obviously a boisterous girl with abundant energy and penetrating voice plus, the trademark blonde, blue-eyed with a certain floral fragrance about her definitely identified her as a Yamanaka. The Yamanakas are famous for their ability with breeding plants and of course the mind-body exchange technique.

Opening the door. The two girls entered with Iruka.

"HINATA!! INO!!" another female voice exclaimed out loud.

"Sakura??" both girls said simulataneously and then they were all hugging one another.

"Well, I'm glad that both Hinata-chan and Ino-chan have friends here," Iruka-sensei said. "Oh, I have to leave the class for a while to settle some office papers and I'll be back in a while. So, all of you get acquainted alright?" With that, Iruka-sensei left the class.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked. Her long pink tresses were loose and free. Sakura did indeed look much more beautiful than ever.

"We're both from Sarutobi Academy and was put into this class," Ino said and then raised an eyebrow. "You still don't look any different, Billboard Brow."

Sakura clutched her hands and added maliciously, "Same with you, Ino-pig."

Both girls were giving death glares until Hinata said something.

"Yo..you….looked great…Sakura-chan," Hinata stammered a little.

"Thanks Hinata-chan," Sakura thanked. "You look a little taller than the last time I saw you."

Hinata blushes rosily.

"Hinata?" a male voice said from the back of the class. A rather tall boy with shades and half his face hidden by his jacket and another bored looking boy stared at her with his eyes wide open.

"Shino-kun?? Shikamaru-kun??" Hinata asked.

"Is that Shino and lazy-assed Shikamaru?" Ino asked Sakura. Sakura nodded her head.

Both Hinata and Ino were glad to meet their old friends since kindergarten. Then, Shikamaru proceeded to introduce the rest of his class.

The door then swung open with Naruto waltzing into the room. Hinata blushed when she saw how blue his eyes were.

"I brought the teme back! Oww!!" Naruto exclaimed after Sakura pounded him on the head.

"BAKA!!" Sakura was pissed with this blonde. "You cannot call Sasuke-kun that way!"

Hinata had a sunking feeling about this. _Did sh..she just…say…his name??_ She asked herself.

Ino gulped.

Sakura paled.

Shikamaru shook his head.

Shino sighed.

The rest…..confused.

Sasuke entered the class with his hands in his pocket. His expressionless-cum-grumpy face was bored as usual. His eyes scanned across the room, looking around until he saw a pair of familiar pale lavender tinted eyes staring at him. His dark eyes frowned.

_It's confirmed. He's here. That stupid duck is in this school._ Hinata said to herself as her eyes suddenly hold his in a game of deadlock.

Then it hit him.

_It's her! That insane tomato is in this school._ He narrowed his eyes as he faced her glares with equal malice. The whole class could feel the tension rising between them.

"_TOMATO FREAK_!" Sasuke yelled, pointing at her.

"_DUCK BUTT_!!" Hinata screamed back, pointing at him.

"Just like the good ol' days," Shikamaru looked in amusement.

**TBC**

&&&&&&&&&&&&

**(1) I know I know…..Neji's father died when he was only five?? I extended the age coz I didn't expect to put this in & I'm adjusting the story as I go along. Besides, like I said before, I wrote this impromptu…..so, please forgive me….**

**A/N: Okay, I'm kinda sleepy now…..dun forget to R&R!!**


	4. The Beginning of a Nightmare

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto….that's it.**

**A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews people!! You all make my day!!! Yeah, I know especially those SasuHina fans!! I kinda like this pairing after reading some _VERY GOOD_ fics about them, so I decided to experiment on this pairing….well, in my fics, Sasuke is always a teme!!! But that's how we all like about him rite?? Anyway, enjoy & don't forget to review ya??**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**CHAPTER 3: THE BEGINNING OF A NIGHTMARE**

"Tomato retard."

"Stupid duck."

"Stinking tomato."

"Duck freak."

"Tomboy tomato."

"Gay duckling."

"Flat-chest!"

"Sissy hair!"

"Ugly hag!"

"Gay boy!"

Sitting at opposite end from one another, Hinata and Sasuke were hurling insults back and forth while the class all stood at the back of the class watching them as if there was a tennis match going on. Everyone sweat dropped as they could see both Hinata and Sasuke's veins popping up everytime they hurled insults against one another.

"How long can they keep up??" Naruto wondered. Scratching his head.

"If it takes forever, I wouldn't be surprised," Ino murmured.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru looked at the two of them and yawned.

"Do something Shika!" Ino cried out, pulling Shikamaru's arms. Shikamaru sighed as the rest of the class looked at him.

"Alright, alright," Shikamaru said. Using his technique, Ninpou Kage Mane no Jutsu, the Shadow Mimicry Technique, Shikamaru split his shadow slowly moving towards both Hinata and Sasuke. Once he got them hooked into his trap, he automatically shut their mouths and halt their body movements.

"Alright! We've had enough of you guys bickering around and it's stupid!" Ino blurted out.

"I'm surprised for a Uchiha prodigy, you didn't feel Shikamaru's chakra coming towards you huh?" Kiba grinned at Sasuke.

Sasuke gave him a death glare.

"Oi Sasuke-teme! You're so lame…Oww!!" Naruto could not finish his sentence when Sakura knocked him hard on his head.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura glared angrily at the blonde.

_Teme?? This is getting good._ Hinata's eyes gleamed maliciously at Sasuke. Like a cat ready to pounce anytime on the ignorant rat. And the rat reeked that of Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke groaned when he got that look from Hinata. _Shit! Why can't that dobe keep his friggin' mouth shut and do the world some good?_

He gave another killer glare at the orange clad nin who was his bestfriend….soon to be ex-bestfriend.

"Since I'm the class monitor, the two of you are disrupting the peace in this class," Shikamaru began.

"Hey Shika, what are ya? Some kind of police?" Kiba laughed out loud with Naruto and earned a few giggles from the girls as well as snickers from the boys.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes upward and sighed. "_Why me??_"

After Shikamaru gave both Hinata and Sasuke their warning. The two young rivals agreed _not_ to cause any problems in the class.

Both crossed their fingers in behind.

_He did not say we can't fight __**outside**__ of the class._ Both of them thought of the same thing and smiled to themselves.

That is not a good smile. Shikamaru looked at his two classmates and predict something bad was going to happen that year.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

After their first day in Konoha Academy, the girls from Sarutobi Academy felt perfectly well…..all except Hinata. The very boy she despised since childhood was in the same building as she was. And worst, they're in the same class.

What worst can happen? Hinata said to herself, avoiding the sharp glare boring at the opposite end of the class.

Sasuke sat at the last table by the classroom door and he was glaring at her. She could see his dark eyes boring much hatred at her. Hinata gave back the glare equally and stuck out her tongue at him. Sasuke could not take it anymore, he slammed the table and left the classroom.

"Now, what is wrong with Sasuke?" Iruka was confused.

"Male PMS," Hinata muttered darkly.

Everyone were surprised by Hinata's bold statement and then burst into laughter. Hinata noticed the whole class was laughing at what she said, and bowed her head down with her cheeks blushing furiously.

"Aahhh…Hinata-chan knows how to joke! That is good," Iruka smiled at her.

"A..ari…arigatou…Iruka-sensei," Hinata bowed her head again.

"That is such a dramatic change of character there," Kiba whispered to Naruto who sat next to him.

"But I think she's cute," Naruto said, flashing his grin to Hinata.

Hinata blushed again whenever Naruto looked at her. Hinata have never had that much attention before. In Sarutobi, everyone were girls, including the teachers. Here was different and she has rarely mixed with any boys, only her cousin, Neji. But now, meeting old school friends like Shino, Shikamaru and Kiba, she felt a little bit relaxed. Now wholly, since she found out that Sasuke is also her classmate.

_Oh Kami, why can't you be more merciful?_ Hinata lamented on her sad fate.

"I wonder where Sasuke-kun went?" Sakura mused.

"Why you're still clinging to him huh, billboard brow?" Ino snickered.

Sakura's eye twitches.

"At least I get to see him nearly everyday eversince kindergarten! Hah!" Sakura replied back.

Ino did not want to lose and exclaimed in that loud penetrating voice of hers, "I don't see you being Sasuke-kun's girlfriend EVER!!"

"At least I sat next to him in class everyday!"

"Billboard brow!"

"Ino-pig!"

Everyone sighed again.

"Perhaps the move from Sarutobi was….was…..a bad idea?" Hinata said.

"I think you might be right there," Kiba smiled at her while Chouji was still chomping himself away with another bag of chips.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes upwards and sighed, "_Women_."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**Uchiha Manor:**

Sasuke came home pissed angry. He slammed the door, kicked his shoes away and stomped angrily into his room. Mikoto was surprised at her youngest son's attitude. The last time he was this angry was when he finished arguing with the young Hyuuga heiress. But that was like years ago and Mikoto rarely meets the young girl. There were on occasion that she meets Hinata in the market doing some grocery shopping, but that was several years ago.

"What is wrong with Sasuke?" Fugaku asked, coming out from the large living room.

"I don't know, he did not say anything," Mikoto replied her husband. Giving him an equally confused look.

"Where is Itachi?"

"He's not back yet. But he said he'll be back by today since the mission only take him about two weeks," Mikoto said, looking into the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall.

"Hn." Her husband replied.

Meanwhile, in Sasuke's room, he was furious. He can't believe he is seeing her and play snotty over him. Sasuke just didn't like her. She's too snotty, bratty and vain – like all the other Hyuugas.

He slumped onto his bed and started thinking.

_What can I do to get back at her?_ He thought.

He stared at the ceiling for a long time and then closed his eyes. Devising a plan to get back at Hinata. The only girl who had publicly humiliated him and annoyed him to his very existence.

_Oh Kami, why do you hate me? Why can't you give me a little help here?_ He said to himself. Half asking, half praying.

Sasuke grinned to himself as if he had received some sort of divine inspiration. _Why didn't I think of that before?? That's perfect! _Sasuke smirked viciously.

_Tomato Freak, you're so gonna get this one from me. It's the beginning of your nightmare._ Saying to himself.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I'm glad to you're back safely, Itachi-niisan," Hinata said happily, walking beside the Uchiha heir who just returned from his latest mission.

"Thank you, Hina-chan," Itachi replied, beaming a handsome smile that seemed to melt Hinata from the inside as she blushed furiously.

"How is school today? I heard that Sarutobi Academy is merging with Konoha Academy?"

"Yes, we did. Today was the first day and the beginning of my worst….nightmare," Hinata looked sad for one minute and then angry the next.

"What is the matter Hina-chan?" Itachi asked as they sat by the training grounds, eating ice-cream from the nearby vendor.

"I met Duck Butt," her tone was not gentle. It was full of steel.

"Oh….did he…do anything…to you? But don't worry, as long as the two of you are not in the same class, it should be fine."

Hinata looked at him and her eyes gave the answer.

"The two of you are in the same class?" Itachi asked coolly. Hinata nodded her head.

Itachi drawing himself nearer to Hinata and whispered softly by her ears, "Don't worry Hina-chan, if he bullies you, I make sure he'll do more house chores to keep him busy for the rest of his life. You know I'll always be here for you, don't you, Hina-chan?" His nose gently brushed against her ear.

Hinata gasped as she blush another million shades of red and felt tremors shivering down her spine. The act of whispering close to her ears always gave her an electrifying feel running through her body. Itachi laughed.

"That….was very mean of you, Itachi-niisan," Hinata pouted, touching her red ears.

"Its alright Chibi Hina-chan," he ruffled her hair. "So, what do we do today?"

"Itachi-niisan!! I'm not a child anymore! Don't call me Chibi Hina!" Hinata pouted as Itachi laughed. Itachi rarely laughed, and when he did, he looked really handsome and Hinata love making Itachi laugh. "We do like what we always do, Itachi-niisan. We train," Hinata smiled, finishing the last part of her ice-cream cone.

"I was hoping we'd do something different today."

She looked at him. Her large lavender tinted eyes looked into his dark obsidian ones.

"What do you mean?"

"Come, I want to show you something," Itachi said, pulling Hinata from where they sat and ran into the woods and he did not let her hands go.

They were running and jumping from branches to bushes until Hinata could hear the water from a nearby stream since rivers do not make such small sound like a stream does. When Itachi finally stopped, he turned to Hinata.

"Close you eyes," he said to her.

Hinata looked up at him. Without any single doubt, she closed her eyes.

He took hold of her hand and slowly pull her through the overgrowing tendrils of vines hanging around the trees that acted like natural curtains into another world of extraordinary beauty.

"Open your eyes," Itachi said.

When Hinata opened her beautiful pale eyes, her eyes immediately widened in surprise and amazement.

"Its…its….its so beautiful!!" Hinata exclaimed, looking around the beautiful natural scene of a small stream coming from a spring that came forth from a large rock like boulder. Around the stream were green grass with beautiful little colourful flowers. There were flowers everywhere! She could see the daffodils growing around the large rocky sediments and a bunch full of forget-me-nots scattering around the grounds with fragrant lilacs and larkspur, sweet gerberas and asters, exotic amaryllis and orchids of various hues. Morning glories creeping around the large stony rocks like wallflowers and willow trees draped the background of the scenery. There were also flying butterflies, chirping birds and surprisingly some squirrels looking down at them from the trees. Everything was like a fairytale land to Hinata until her pale eyes settled on a large bush of white roses. It looked familiar to her.

"Is…is…this?" Hinata asked, kneeling before the roses.

"Yes it is," Itachi replied. "I took care of it and let it grow here, where it should be. Free in the wild."

Hinata smiled gratefully as she remembered the day clearly.

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**4 Years Ago: Hinata (10 years old) & Itachi (15 years old)**

_Hinata was crying and she can't stop crying. Her white kimono was stained not only with tears, but also by the grounds of her mother's garden. Late-mother's garden._

_It always calms her whenever she visits her mother's garden. She took care of it daily and have taken the liberty of expanding the garden to accommodate more herbal plantation for making antidotes and ointments. _

"_Are you alright, Hina-chan?" Itachi asked, appearing out of nowhere._

"_Itachi-niisan," Hinata's lower lips were trembling. Her chubby cheeks were stained with tears._

"_What is wrong?" he asked, kneeling beside the grieving young heiress._

"_I missed Obaa-chan," Hinata's lips trembled, talking about her maternal grandmother who just passed away. She was the closest to being her mother since her mother passed away when she was four._

"_You don't have to cry now, Hina-chan," Itachi said, wiping the tears from her eyes._

"_Why is that, Itachi-niisan?" _

"_Because where your grandmother is going, she will meet your mother and they will stay in a very beautiful place."_

"_Where are they staying, Nii-san?" Hinata stopped crying. He pulled her to his lap._

"_Because where they are staying right now is a very beautiful place and they are getting it ready for you. Don't you want to go there when it is ready?"_

_Hinata nodded her head and wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck._

"_Thank you Itachi-niisan!" Hinata looked much happier now and then looked at him again. "Nii-san, can you help me?"_

_"What is it?"_

_"This," she said, pointing towards a small potted plant which did not seem to bloom at all. "Obaa-chan said that it belonged to Okaa-san before she left and was planning to plant it. Obaa-chan tried planting it, but it cannot grow and died. That one is the baby plant that Obaa-chan saved, but I think it is dying again."_

_**I have no idea about gardening**. Itachi thought to himself. "What do you want me to do, Chibi Hina-chan?"_

_"Can you try save it? For me?"_

_Itachi's dark black eyes softened and cradled the girl in his arms. For a ten year-old, Hinata is remarkably small for her size. But he felt she fits perfectly in his arms. "I will try, Chibi Hina-chan," Itachi said as Hinata got off from his lap and placed the small almost withered looking plant in his hands._

_"It is still small, and needs lots of love, but I can't give it all my love because...because Otou-sama will be angry at me if...if...I don't practice...and...and train," Hinata was almost on the verge of tears. Itachi held the pot with one hand and caressed her wet cheeks with his free hand._

_"I will love and care it for you," Itachi said. "Just give some time until it will grow, I promise you that."_

_Hinata brightened a little and hugged him. "Obaa-chan says they are mother's prized white roses."_

_"White roses?" **Pure love. Unconditional love. The symbol of white rose. Just like her.** Itachi thought to himself._

_"Yes," Hinata looked up at him and then at the small potted plant. Touching it as if it was the most precious thing in the world. "Obaa-chan says this white rose is Okaa-san's favourite and created this breed while she was pregnant with...me. So, I want it to live because Okaa-san loves it too."_

_Itachi nooded. "Alright, Chibi Hina-chan. I will look after this white rose for you. And when it is ready, I will tell you."_

"_Alright, I think you better go back and change your kimono or else Hyuuga-sama will get angry."_

_Hinata looked at him and grinned. Giving him a peck on the cheek and ran off to find her nanny._

_Itachi felt a familiar chakra from behind. _

"_Very smooth there, my son," Fugaku observed, dressed in traditional black and white hakama. _

"_She just needs some comforting, that's all."_

"_I can see you're very attached with the Hyuuga heiress," his father observed._

"_I was just concerned about her. She doesn't have anybody in this family," Itachi said, crossing his arms across his chest, facing his father. His eyes were expressionless as ever._

_Fugaku knew better. He grinned at his son and put his hand on his eldest boy's shoulder._

"_Wise choice, my son. A befitting choice for an heir." Fugaku smiled at his son and then looked at the small plant in Itachi's hands. "By the way, good luck with your new hobby." Then, Fugaku chuckling to himself leaving his son behind._

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The next day, everything went on just fine until the Hinata and Sasuke were in the same room. Hinata continued to ignore him and Sasuke was pissed, but he didn't show it. He's too proud to show it. Especially _not_ in front of Hinata.

"Wha…what are we having for…today? I…I…left my timetable at…home," Hinata asked Ino, stammering a little.

Ino took out her schedule and looked. "Oh, we'll be having P.E. for our first period."

"Yeah, we need to get going to the gym now," Sakura looked at them. "I do hope you'll not ruin our mood seeing you and your big fat ass in your shorts, Ino-pig."

Ino narrowed her eyes on Sakura and they started bickering.

"Do they have to do that like every morning?" Chouji asked, pointing at both Sakura and Ino while munching on his pork bun.

Shikamaru gave a bored look and yawned, "Women."

The girls and boys gathered at the gym. Boys all wear white round neck t-shirt and black shorts while the girls all wear the same t-shirt but short tights instead.

"Hinata, we have to move," Ino said as they prepared to get out from the locker.

"No," Hinata refused, sitting on the wooden bench and hugging herself.

"What's the matter, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked.

Hinata gave them a frustrated look and finally was pulled up by both girls. When finally Hinata stood up, both girls jaw dropped. Before them, was Hinata in her full glory. The white shirt was stretched too tightly across the chest. Her thighs were thick and legs were long and shapely with her backside fully curved. Hinata was a little 'over-developed' compared to Sakura and Ino. Suddenly, both girls felt very insecure compared to Hinata.

"You…you…you," Sakura's eyes twitch unmercilessly.

"The boys are going to go….wild," Ino murmured.

Hinata looked petrified.

She didn't care the living daylights, only that she didn't want to face Sasuke in such attire!

"ALRIGHT!! IS EVERYONE ARE ON TIP-TOP HEALTH TO ENJOY YOUTHFUL EXERCISE??" The girls in the changing room could hear it very well. A loud voice boomed out from the gym.

"Oh gawd," Sakura murmured.

"What billboard brow??"

"Its Gai-sensei!" Sakura was almost in tears, telling them about Gai.

"He can't be that bad??" Ino said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Green spandex, bushy brows, bowl cut hair and pathetic excuse of a man is NOT bad?? I think you haven't seen him, yet," Sakura said. "Come on now, Hinata-chan. We can't leave you here or else Gai-sensei will make you do worst things."

Reluctantly, Hinata went up and followed them out to the gym.

"WHOAA!!" Kiba exclaimed and howled like a wolf on a full moon.

**TBC**

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**A/N: Alright...I did this like in an hour...so, it's not very good...sorry for any mistakes...it wasn't meant to be...I'll check it the next time I have the time alright?? Please review and let me know!!! Arigato!!!**

**Btw, sorry if it is too short...also!! Gomen!!**

**Kaguya-kiut out**


	5. That Darn Jacket Part 1

**Disclaimer: I just don't own Naruto... **

**A/N: Thanx for the reviews & encouraging words people!!! Also, I humbly apologise to all for waiting this fic to be updated….I know everyone are dying to find out what is going to happen between the Duck & the Tomato…..well, I'd like to thank Julia for her idea & this chapter is for you...oh yeah, the flagpole thingy?? Will only come out in the next chappie...sowwy **

**Okay dragonstar-dreamer…..I've finally updated this chapter…..so, keep on the smiley face okay…. **

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**CHAPTER 4: THAT DARN JACKET (PART 1)**

The boys looked at Hinata like a pack of hungry hound dogs. The plain faced girl with pale eyes seemed to out-do every genin and some chuunin at Konoha Academy!!

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. _That was what she was hiding under that ugly thing?? Wha…what!! Why am I looking at her?? _Sasuke could feel something warm coming out from his nose until his gaze fell onto his fellow male classmates. They were all staring at her wide-eyed and jaw-dropped expressions were evident on their faces. Heck, he could even smell lust coming out from Kiba by the look of the drool pooling on the ground. Even Shikamaru's eyes were twitching nervously from where he stood.

_I'd never thought Hinata is that….that….perfect_. Kiba was staring obscenely at the young Hyuuga heiress that got Ino smack his head so hard that he fell on the ground with a thud.

"Pervert!!" Ino screamed at him.

Hinata felt extremely uncomfortable being scrutinize under all those gazes, she clutched her favourite jacket closed to her. _Why do they have to invent something so uncomfortable?? Luckily I brought my jacket along! _Hinata was covering her chest and at the same time blushing to the roots of her hair, complaining about the school's P.E. t-shirts.

"Aaahhh….Sakura-chan!! And these beautiful youthful and energetic girls must be from Sarutobi Academy!" Gai-sensei looked at the two new girls from Sarutobi.

"Yes Gai-sensei," Sakura nodded her head with a bored expression that remotely resembled Shikamaru's as she introduced Ino and Hinata to their P.E. teacher.

Both Ino and Hinata jaw-dropped when they saw a full grown man in a outrageous green spandex outfit with bowlcut hair style and bushy eyebbrows. In all their lives, they have never seen a man who wore green spandex so tight and scary as…..Gai-sensei.

"WELCOME TO KONOHA ACADEMY MY BEAUTIFUL YOUTHS!!" Gai bawled out loud.

Ino and Hinata covered their ears when Gai was yelling his favourite aphorism.

"He won't need a microphone to make any announcement," Ino muttered as she still covered her ears. Then she looked at Sakura, "Do all teachers in Konoha are this weird?"

Sakura grinned at her. "Well, there is this one more, but he's not as bad as this one," Sakura pointed her thumb at Gai.

"He…he…is…_scary_," Hinata hold on to Ino.

"Poor Hinata-chan," Kiba grinned obscenely at Hinata. "Don't worry, Kiba is here." Hitting his chest like some kind of prehistoric caveman. Then Akamaru barked. "Yeah, and Akamaru too."

Hinata crouched down and held the puppy close to her chest.

Nearly all the guys were drooling and wishing they were in Akamaru's spot until Ino noticed their lusty expression. Beaming her icy blue glares at them she declared icily, "Wait till I tell Itachi-kun about this."

Everyone stood frozen on their spot. Even Hinata. Her pale eyes went wide in shock.

"Di…did she mean…U..U…Uchi..ha…Itachi??" Chouji pointed out nervously. All the boys were now change their sight to Sasuke. Sasuke was openly glaring at the Hyuuga heiress.

"Do you have to bring Itachi-niisan out in this??" Hinata hissed through her clenched teeth.

Sasuke heard what Ino said and strode over to them. His eyes darkened and the bangs of his hair swept softly beside his face as his icy gaze not leaving a moment from Hinata's equally cold glare. When he finally stood in front of her, looking down hatefully at her. Hinata returned the actions mutually. Forgetting about her state of under-dressed, she put her hands on her hips and straightened her back that flaunt her heavy chest outward. Both of them stood face-to-face. Not saying anything - yet while holding each other's gaze as if not ever letting go. Those around them could feel the tension and electrical sparks just waiting to blow at any time.

"Just what do you have with Nii-san?" Sasuke growled, his black eyebrows frowned at the smaller figure who stood defiantly before him.

Hinata crossed her arms across her ample chest and glared at him. "None of your business, Duck Butt."

"Well, it is my business since it concerns my brother," Sasuke clenched his teeth. His head was noticeably closed to Hinata that she had move her head backward a little. Not wanting to move from her spot, she turned her head away.

"What goes on between me and Itachi-niisan is something...personal. Not that you can understand the meaning of the term."

Sasuke's eyes twitches as he hardened his hands into a fist.

"_Yoshh_!!! I can see the beauty that springtime youths brings about in Sasuke and Hinata!!" Gai exclaimed. Both Hinata and Sasuke grimaced with Gai's statement.

Sasuke scowled.

Hinata frowned.

"Beautiful! Just _beautiful_!" Gai looked at the two of them. "I have never seen such spontaneous attitude from you Sasuke! And now I know why! Hinata is simply so innocent and angelic, no doubt boys like you would like to fish such wonderful specimen!" Holding both their hands together in his.

Both Hinata and Sasuke choked on Gai's sentence. The rest of the class sweat dropped. Edging nearer to the exit.

_If only he knew about Duck Butt's freakish egotistical narcissism._ Hinata glared daggers at Sasuke.

_If only he knew what a weirdo Tomato Freak is, he wouldn't say that. _Sasuke returned the courtesy with a smirk at the corner of his lips. His dark eyes not taking away from Hinata.

_If only he knew the whole story._ Ino and Shikamaru thought at the same time.

Gai put both his hands on his hips and yelled out, "ALRIGHT YOU BRIGHT FRESH YOUTHS! ITS TIME FOR SOME EXERCISE AND 10 ROUNDS AROUND THE SCHOOL!!"

"_NANI_!!!" everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"Man…this is so troublesome," Shikamaru shook his head.

After running for about 10 laps around the school, nearly everyone collapsed in exhaustion. Chouji had to be sent to the infirmary just after his second lap, and Shikamaru couldn't be bothered to finish his own round after Chouji passed out.

"I think I can't feel my legs anymore," Ino panted as she lay down on the gym floor.

"This is nothing compared to what he normally gives us," Sakura looked tired.

Both Hinata and Ino looked at her – terrified.

"A..ano…can we..err….drop this…subject?" Hinata stammered.

Both girls shook their heads. Hinata sighed.

"Alright you youthful youths!! Now is time for a game of basketball!! I'm going to separate all of you into two groups and since we do not have enough participation, we'll make it three-on-three," Gai explained, looking at all of them with both his hands on his hips while legs apart.

Sakura and Ino latched themselves up to Sasuke. Sasuke smirked at her. Hinata rolled her eyes upward in exasperation.

"Do you want to partner with me?" both of them asked simultaneously. Hinata blushed furiously.

"Inuzuka, Uzumaki and Uchiha! The three of you in one group!" Gai called out.

"How wonderful….I'm stuck with a mutt and a fox. Great…family reunion," Sasuke muttered sarcastically.

"Going against them would be; Yamanaka, Haruno and Hyuuga!" Gai grinned broadly. "Alright! It's going to be battle of the genders! Oh! I can just smell the springtime of youthfulness here!!"

The girls jaw-dropped when they Gai called out their names. Then, looking at the boys. Hinata groaned out loud.

_Kami-sama…..do you hate me that much??_ Hinata rolled her eyes upward.

"Now! Shinobi basketball does not necessarily apply the standard ruling of the game. Your aim is to score. Now, do your best!!" Gai explained.

Kiba and Naruto were grinning broadly. Kiba was still looking at Hinata obscenely when Ino went over and gave him a smack on the head.

"Don't you drool over her you perverted mutt!" Ino barked at him. Akamaru hid himself inside Kiba's jacket….out of fear for Ino.

Then, turning her attentions to Sasuke, Ino grabbed his arms followed by Sakura on the other side. Sasuke didn't know whether he ought to push them away or revel in delight when Hinata frowned angrily at him.

Gai started the game between them and luckily, both Ino and Hinata knew how to dribble the ball between them and Sakura. But Sakura lost the ball when she felt somebody touching her ass and gave a swiping 360 degrees smack on the head of a certain blonde, but lost her footing that she accidently twisted her ankle.

"Sakura-chan, I didn't mean it!" Naruto muttered angrily, rubbing the bruise on his head when Sakura smack him down after he accidently touched her ass. In a few seconds, he looked very concerned for the pink-haired girl and lost the ball to Hinata who was already moving towards the otherside of the court, chasing after the ball that Naruto had dropped. Naruto ignored the ball and Sasuke whilst carrying the pink haired girl in his arms and left the court.

"Dobe!! You're losing the ball!" Sasuke was yelling, after he himself losing his guard over Hinata who took the opportunity to steal the ball. "Kiba!!" Sasuke yelled and Kiba moved into position. Right in front of Hinata.

Smirking at Hinata, Kiba didn't see a kick coming in between his legs.

"HENTAI!!" Ino was screaming and pointing accusingly at Kiba who looked as if someone had knocked the living daylights out of him. The rest who sat on the benches were contorting their faces as if Ino was the one who kicked them.

Ouch. All the boys on the bench clenched their thighs shut the moment Ino's leg hit his family jewels (**A/N: I really wanted to put those down!! YOSH!!**).

"What the HELL was THAT for!! I didn't touch _you_!!" Kiba yelled at Ino, his face obviously contorted in pain.

The rest who sat on the benches were very amused by the whole ordeal.

Hinata grinned at Ino and made her way to score their first goal until Sasuke stepped in front of her. Hinata was looking for a way to get away but looking at Sasuke smirking at her, Hinata wanted to retch right there on the spot. Trying to give a false right, but Sasuke detected her intentions and blocked her throughout. Now that both Ino and Kiba are out from the court, everyone was looking at the one-on-one between Hinata and Sasuke.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and grinned, looking at Ino. "It's just like the old times huh?"

Ino giggled. "Yeah, remember the time when we play our first basketball?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes upwards. "Don't remind me. Its just so troublesome!"

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**Flashback: **

**Hinata, Sasuke, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru & Shino – 7 years old **

**Itachi – 12 years old **

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_"Alright class, Nanami-sensei is not feeling well today and I am Kaede-sensei who will be taking over from Nanami-sensei until she is feeling okay, so for today, how about a little game or sports to get us all exercised?" a petite blonde with chubby cheeks said to all of them. _

_Everyone groaned. _

_"So troublesome," little Shikamaru sighed, putting his head down on the table. _

_"I…I…hope we will…be ha…having…fun...ne, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked the tall silent boy sitting next to her. _

_"Of course we will, Hinata-chan," Shino replied softly. Looking at the shy blushing girl who was assigned to sit next to him since nobody wanted to. Hinata was the only female that wasn't afraid of Shino's bugs. And was the only female who was willing to sit beside him in class. Shino was even proud to introduce his bugs to Hinata and became his first and only female friend in school. _

_"Huh! Yeah right for a Tomato Freak to know how to play. She's so weak and pathetic that she wouldn't last five minutes!" a familiar sarcastic male voice replied. Venom dripping from each word. _

_Hinata need not need to turn to the right and see who said those words at her. It was all the way too familiar for all of them. _

_"Hey Duck Butt….you think you can outlast me??" Hinata looked at him, with pure hatred. _

_For several years since they met the first time, the fury of their rivalry was unmatched. To some, it was simply a cute argument between two small children, but to their classmates, it was a torture. When they start to argue, they can get very very physical. Only Sasuke knew which button to push to irritate the young Hyuuga heiress, and Hinata knew exactly how to aggravate the young emo Uchiha. _

_"They're at it again," Ino looked frightened as she whispered next to Shikamaru. _

_Shikamaru yawned. "Its just so troublesome." _

_Well, everything did not stopped there. _

_"You think you can withstand me, then To-ma-to Freeeak!" _

_"You think you're so macho huh, Duck Boy!!" _

_"You won't last longer than me you pathetic Tomato Tomboy!!" _

_"Oh yeah?? Then bring it on you Gay Duckling!" _

_"Fine!" _

_"Fine!" _

_Kaede looked at the two warring children who sat at the back with eyes glaring at one another. **Now I know why Nanami is always having those god-awful migraines. **_

_Within ten minutes, Kaede brought the kids out to the school's playground where they had a mini version of a basketball court. It was their first foray into the new facility which was finally completed. _

_"Alright kids, lets divide all of you into two groups, shall we??" Kaede-sensei looked at the children. _

_Both Hinata and Sasuke raised their hands. _

_"Yes, Hinata-chan, Sasuke-kun?" Kaede-sensei looked at them, trying to keep her smile and irritation on hold. _

_"I don't want to be in the same group with Duck Butt!!" chibi Hinata yelled, pointing accusingly at Sasuke. _

_Sasuke glared back at her. _

_"I'm not going to play if Tomato Freak is in the same time with me!! If she's playing in MY team….nobody is gonna play!!" Sasuke yelled back. _

_Hinata glared at him. _

_Both of them glared each other. _

_Kaede's eyes twitches like it has never twitched before. The rest of the class sweat dropped. Even the lazy Shikamaru. _

**_I can feel my migraine is coming to me now….._**_Kaede was starting to feel a slow creeping pain coming up to her head as she sorted the class into two groups. _

_All the girls except Hinata wanted to be in Sasuke's group, which left Hinata has the guys in her group. Much to Sasuke's dissatisfaction, he groaned in disgust that he was the only male in an all-girls group. Hinata smirked evilly. Sasuke hated every minute of it. _

_"Kaede-sensei, why I have all the girls in MY group??" Sasuke complained. His dark eyes held so much malice. Feeling the need to kill the substitute teacher before him for making his life miserable. _

_"Well Sasuke-kun, all the girls wanted to be in your team and since you don't want Hinata-chan in your team, I guess this is it." _

_Sasuke sighed and then glared at the girls in his team. _

_"If we lost this game, I'll NEVER forgive all of you. And….DON'T TOUCH ME!!" Sasuke warned them. _

_The girls all nodded happily. Able to be in the same team with their darling prince. _

_"Oh Kaede-sensei, there's a phone call for you in the office," another female teacher came into the playground. _

_"Alright," Kaede-sensei looked at the kids. "I'll be gone for a few minutes, so behave yourself and discuss your strategy. When I come back, we can start the game. Is that okay, children?" _

_Everyone nodded their cute little heads. _

**_Oh Kami-sama…..please don't let anything happen._**_ Kaede was praying, looking upwards – hopefully. _

_Hinata looked at the boys. _

_"Okay, we're gonna win this against Duck Butt!" Hinata held out her fist. _

_"Do you know how to play this game, Hinata-chan?" Shino asked. _

_"Sure I do, all we have to do is get the ball into the hoops. Most importantly, into their hoop and don't let them have the ball. Get it?" Hinata asked. _

_"I've never played basketball before," a small boy with spiky auburn hair and small red tattoo on his cheeks said. _

_"Don't worry Kazu-kun, it's so easy. Neji-niisan says once you've play this game, it is not too hard," Hinata smiled. _

_"Thanks Hinata-chan," Inuzuka Kazu replied. (**A/N: Kazu is Kiba's cousin, and don't worry, he'll come out again**). _

_"Alright boys, here how it goes," Hinata said, getting them together and explain the simple rules of the game. _

_While on the other side, Sasuke was having a tough time explaining the sport to the girls. Their eyes were glued to his face. Sasuke felt icy shivers down his spine, as he could feel what they were thinking about him. Feeling utmostly frustrated, Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. _

_"Aaarrgghhh!!!" he screamed. Annoyingly frustrated with his team composition, Sasuke stomped over at Hinata's and yelled angrily. "Oi Tomato Freak! We're changing teams! Since I'm a boy, I ought to be in this group. Yours is over that side!" He pointed out angrily to the bunch of girls. _

_"SASUKE-KUN!!" all the girls surrounded him, pulling his arms and shirt. _

_Hinata looked at them and her eyes twitches. Then her expression turned into a smirk as she crossed her arms looking at him. _

_"No way, Duck Butt. I've got my team all ready to kick your stinking stuck up Uchiha ass!" Hinata replied. (A/N: Yeah I know…this Hinata is sooo different, but anyway, she's only like this when Duck Butt..oops…I mean Sasuke is around to push her buttons) _

_Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes into a frown. _

_"GET OFF ME!!" Sasuke yelled at the girls around him. _

_Some of them had tears in their eyes. Hinata could almost feel pity for them, but there was no way she is going to comfort them over Sasuke. _

_"Why not lets start playing?" Hinata asked. _

_"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru said as he sat at the side, yawning once more. _

_"You've been saying that awfully a lot today, Shikamaru-chan," Hinata looked at her friend. _

_"Well, it is, isn't it?" Shikamaru asked and lay down. Looking up into the bright blue sky and sigh. _

**_There is no way anybody can push that lazy ass._**_ Both Hinata and Shino looked at Shikamaru with the same thought going through their mind. _

_Sasuke glared at the girls one more time as he walked to retrieve the ball from a small basket at the corner. _

_He grinned maliciously at Hinata's team. _

_"Okay, since you wanna play, how about a one-on-one?" he asked, twirling the ball in his hand. _

**_I'm so gonna teach her a lesson after this. No one messes around with a Uchiha, especially me. And, I'm gonna make her pay._**_ Sasuke smirked. _

_Hinata frowned at him. _

**_What got him so worked out? He thinks he's the only one who knows how to play, huh? Well, no one messes with a Hyuuga. And, he's messing with the wrong Hyuuga. I'm so gonna kick his backside until it so hurt that he can't use his ass to sit down!_**_ Hinata glared at him when she saw him smirked. _

_The rest of the class immediately made way for them. _

_"It is not a good time to go right between them now," Kazu said. _

_"For once Kazu-chan, you're right," Ino gripped his arm. _

_Sasuke started to bounce the ball in his hand and Hinata quickly stood in front of him and started to play for the ball. Underestimating Hinata, Sasuke lost the ball when she gave him a false move and she quickly dribble the ball onto the other side of the court and scored her first shot. _

_Everyone stared at Hinata in awe. _

_Even Duck Butt…. _

_"Hey Uchiha! You've just got beaten by a girl!" Another boy outside the playground was looking at them playing. He was laughing. _

_"Hey Duck Butt!" Hinata grinned. "I've scored my first score. What a loser!" _

**_No.One.Calls.Me.A.Loser._**_ Sasuke was pissed. _

_It was Sasuke's turn now since Hinata scored and he wasn't going to give Hinata a chance on the ball when….whoops….she wheezes passed him and moved quickly to score another. _

_The guys sitting on the bench sigh when they observe how the Uchiha was losing – badly. A blow to the male ego, but was silently glad that Hinata was in their team. _

_Kazu looked at them and said, "Thank Kami that Hinata is in our team. At least we know we won't lose." _

_Sakura narrowed her eyes at him and yelled. "So, you think our Sasuke-ouji is going to lose??" _

_"Well, isn't it pretty obvious, Sakura-chan?" Shikamaru asked. _

_After scoring another easy goal, Hinata was beaming with happiness. _

_Boy, was that some Uchiha ass she was kicking. _

_As Hinata was dribbling the ball, Sasuke tried to reached out but was blocked by Hinata's oversized jacket. Without thinking, Sasuke pulled her jacket and Hinata fell on the ground. Smirking, he stole the ball right under her and made his way to shoot his first goal. _

_"CHEATER!!" Hinata screamed. _

_"No, I did not," Sasuke replied, crossing his arm. "You're just jealous." _

_"**Jealous**?? **Me**?? **Of you**??" Hinata's eyes widened in disbelief. _

_"Oh dear," Ino bit her fingernail. _

_"You're a no good cheater!!" Hinata was screaming. _

_"No I am not!!" Sasuke screamed back. _

_"You can't play a decent game!" _

_"Yeah right! You think you play good? You're just jealous!" _

_"Hahaha!! Me? Jealous? You're the one who's jealous!" Hinata yelled furiously at Sasuke and started to take off her jacket and threw it aside on the ground. "Let us play fairly then Duck Butt!!" _

_"Of course, Tomato Freak!" _

_They started another round and this time, everyone got Shikamaru to play as the umpire of the game. _

_Hinata got the ball this time since Sasuke scored the last goal. She was dribbling in her pale blue t-shirt and short black tights. Hinata looked remarkably cute as her face flushed from the game. Sasuke was in his usual dark blue high collared shirt and white shorts and the Uchiha fan symbol on the back of his shirt. _

_The game got rougher when Sasuke pulled her shirt and Hinata pulled his hair. The game eventually came to a standstill when Sasuke pulled **her **hair and Hinata pinched **his **cheeks wide and they were both struggling on the ground. Hinata cried in pain as Sasuke tugged into her hair and at the same time, Sasuke had tears in his eyes as he could feel his cheeks burning with pain. _

_Nobody in their right mind wanted to separate the two of them, fearing of getting into the fight as well since Shino and Sakura had their frightening previous experience with those two. _

_When Kaede-sensei came back, her eyes widened in surprise and separated the two quarreling children. _

_"What happened??" she demanded, pulling Hinata's shirt properly and also dusting Sasuke's head. _

_"HE STARTED IT!!" _

_"SHE STARTED IT!!" _

**_Oh dear, my migraine is coming fast now._**_ Kaede sighed. _

_Sasuke touched his bruised tear-stained cheeks. Looking angrily at the sniffing Hyuuga before him. Sasuke saw her jacket lying at the corner. Without thinking further, he made a run and grabbed her jacket away with him. _

_"DUCK BUTT!! MY JACKET!!! GIVE IT BACK!!" Hinata yelled while still crying and chasing after him. _

**_I need a doctor._**_ Kaede could feel the throbbing pain on the corner of her head. _

_"What am I gonna do with her jacket?" Sasuke asked, clutching the jacket in his arms as he ran into the corner of the building. He could smell the soft scent of lavender when he held it closed to his face. _

**_This is her scent._**_ Sasuke thought to himself. _

_"Duck Butt!! Where are you?? Give me back my jacket!" Hinata said, wiping the tears in her eyes. _

_Sasuke came out from his hiding place and held the jacket out with his fingers, as if it was something disgusting. _

_"Why?" he asked. _

_Hinata's pale eyes looked at her beloved jacket. As if it was something dear to her. _

_"Its only a jacket. Nothing important right?" _

_"Its my jacket Duck Butt!" _

_"Well, its only a jacket and doesn't mean anything to you." _

_"It does for me! Itachi-niisan gave it to me as a birthday present!" _

_Sasuke froze. His face contorted icily. His lips thinned at the mention of his brother. He looked at the jacket with hate and threw it down. Stomping the jacket under his feet. _

_Hinata's eyes widened in disbelief and shock. Sasuke was stamping his feet all over her beloved jacket. Hot tears fall down from her cheeks and she pushed Sasuke away and tried to grab her jacket. But Sasuke glared at her and pushed her back, pulling the jacket away from her but she didn't want to release it at all. They kept on pulling each end of the jacket until…. _

_Rrriiipppp _

_It tore into half. _

_Hinata's heart was ripped like the jacket. Sasuke looked at her for a moment and made a run for it. _

_Hinata cried into her beloved jacket and buried her face in it. Didn't know how to explain to Itachi when she sees him in the afternoon. _

**End Flashback **

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"Oh dear, I'll never forget that," Ino gushed, remembering the past. "It was an ugly past."

Shikamaru nodded his head as they all looked at the familiar scenario played over again.

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It was Sasuke's turn to dribble since Hinata scored the first goal – again. Sasuke glared angrily at Hinata who was giving him a satisfying smirk when she outdo him.

Hinata was playing with him but Sasuke knew better. He had more practice since the last time and know he was going to score again until he made a wrong move that Hinata stole the ball directly under him.

_Shit!_ Sasuke cursed. _Do something, Sasuke!! You can't lose to her! Not again!! _

Sasuke couldn't bear the embarrassment of having Hinata outdo him, for the second time and did the inevitable.

"Hah!! Still stupid as ever, Duck Butt!" Hinata laughed, jumping to score but only to find herself being pushed down on the floor with a heavy weight on top of her.

Surprised, she found herself trapped under Sasuke and looked up to see a pair of onyx black eyes staring into hers. She could feel his heavy breathing on her face, and her eyes went wide at their close contact.

Hinata's heart was racing and took a dive down. _Why am I feeling this way?? No Hinata!! This is NOT good!! _

A slow blush creeping into her cheeks as she could feel his chest pressing close into her breast.

"SASUKE-KUN!!" The could see Ino and Sakura came running up to them and pulled him up.

"HINATA-CHAN!!" Kiba and Naruto came up to her.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme!! What were you thinking doing that to Hinata-chan?" Naruto demanded.

"It was an accident, dobe," Sasuke said ignoring the blonde and stole a glance at the blushing Hinata.

Hinata did not noticed it as Kiba was fussing around her and Shino was protective of her. It was something no one noticed at all.

Satisfactorily, Sasuke smirked.

_Step One complete_ Sasuke crossed his arms. Feeling good about himself. But he couldn't deny the stirring feeling he had when he looked into her eyes. It troubled him, but pushed that aside. Walking out from the basketball court, Sasuke couldn't help but feeling...glad.

**- TBC - **

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**A/N: Okay, this chappie is to recompensate for the LONG time since I've updated….sorry…..I hope all of you are happy with this chapter….okay, in the next chapter will explain further...hehehehee... **


	6. The Rivalry Begins

**Disclaimer: Sorry, I don't own Naruto...only the name of Duck Butt & Tomato Freak **

**A/N: My sincerest apologies for the delay in updating this fic…..I had loads of things to do lately especially since I'm moving from my previous house to another house & that consists of heavy boxes…..the next day I had body ache and the ONLY part tat wasn't in pain was my neck!! And now I know how Naruto feel when he got beaten up pretty badly…..sheeshh…I'm soooo not suited for hard labour work!!! **

**Kichou – **here's the ItaHina moments tat you've been requesting….in fact, I had this in mind for this chappie….so, you could say it's ur luck…..and dun worry about how 'easy' Sasuke is gonna get Hinata….it won't be EASY trust me. I'm glad you like Itachi in here, originally, I didn't plan on having him in this fic, but I needed somebody for a triangle tat Sasuke would hate so much and who could do it better than being rival against his own big brother? And I try to make Itachi as realistic minus the homicidal tendencies, sort of Itachi before he turned power-hungry…oh yeah, here's the ItaHina moment you wanted…..

**Julia** – thanx for the idea…..so sorry tat you won't find the Flagpole Moments here right now coz it was going to be in the next chapter instead….I misread my own chappies!!! Anyways, it'll put you in a more suspenseful

**XanimeprincessXlol **– Well, ur almost rite….hmmm….but I wouldn't wanna spoil all the fun for you guys rite?? So, keep on waiting….

**Rikkamaru** – hahahahhaa….yeah…actually, I forgot to mention in the chapter tat only Hinata was the one who binds her breast coz she was further 'developed' compared to the others & was embarrassed of her physical condition tat she had to bind them since hitting puberty, so thanx for reminding me about tat one…..it sorta escaped me….and perhaps a lesson for our Hina-chan, ne?

**muddledthoughts **– yeah, I didn't expect you'd notice Hinata's 'talent' in basketball, I was contemplating volleyball at first but, I need the 'close proximity' between the two of them….just to start off the 'spark' between them….

**Rewy** – yeah…I love Itachi in this fic….he's sooo sweet And true, they don't make guys like tat anymore…..gentleman dun exist in this modern globalised urban society….I wish I was back in time where men had MORE manners!!

**Uchiha Mizuki** – Awww….you like tat part?? Me too….and it's only Chibi Sasuke!! Glad you like the fic too….

**unbeatablehinata, Moon Child Serenity, demondancer, disneyrulz23, itachisgurl93, phoenix-ninjaqueen, Mangareaderlover12, DJ, MissAna, Anomalous Girl, Danimals21, Melodramatic Writer, InoccentWhiteLily, yinyanglover, readifyouplease, Sabaku no Kuri, Hyuga Hinani, then nika said, cygnet411, TaiLove, numba neko93, gaaras shadow, .KitaKaze., dragonstar-dreamer and Michelle…..thank you all for ur support!! **

**I wish I could reply personally to each and everyone of you, and the only way I can show my appreciation for your support and motivation was to put it up here & publicise your names!! And I was rather surprised tat everyone loved the chibi Hina & chibi Sasu….and well, I know some of us have experienced in childhood rivalry rite?? Moon Child Serenity, I wonder how you & TAT childhood boy 'friend' of yours turning out?? Hehehehe…..did he become ur boyfriend?? Just curious here….anyways, on wif the story!! **

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**Recap: **

_"Oi, Sasuke-teme!! What were you thinking doing that to Hinata-chan?" Naruto demanded. _

_"It was an accident, dobe," Sasuke said ignoring the blonde and stole a glance at the blushing Hinata. _

_Hinata did not noticed it as Kiba was fussing around her and Shino was protective of her. _

_It was something no one noticed at all. _

_Satisfactorily, Sasuke smirked. _

**_Step One complete_**_. Sasuke crossed his arms. Feeling good about himself. But he couldn't deny the stirring feeling he had when he looked into her eyes. It troubled him, but pushed that aside. Walking out from the basketball court, Sasuke couldn't help but feeling...glad. _

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**CHAPTER 5: THE RIVALRY BEGINS **

Sasuke smirk. Leaning against the wall on the rooftop, he couldn't help but feeling a kind of self-satisfaction at what he is slowly achieving.

_Soon now._ Sasuke smirked maliciously, thinking of how wonderful it was having his chest pressed against her breast. _Whoa!! Now, where the hell did **that** come from??_ Sasuke jerked up from his position. His face displayed utter confusion.

"No. That cannot be it. Maybe its just from all the excitement in getting my plans into work. Yeah. That must be it." Sasuke nodded her head, saying out loud.

"What must be, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto said, joining him.

"What you doing here, dobe?"

"What else, teme? If not looking for you? Tsunade-baachan assigned us to get you into class." Naruto looked at him, sitting while leaning against the wall next to his bestfriend. "What gotten you so tight up? You looked like a bear with a sore paw."

"Tch." Sasuke was irritated.

Naruto grinned at him. "Ohhh….you like that Hyuuga girl, ne teme?"

Sasuke glared openly at the blonde. "That's stupid, dobe."

"Well, what else could it be? I've never seen you get so riled up with a female before. Not even Tsunade-baachan could get as close as to you saying a full 10 word sentence."

Sasuke hated it, but he knew what Naruto said had some truth in it. He knew Hinata since they were in kindy, and she was the only living female aside from his mother who knew exactly which button to push. Not that Sasuke was suffering from Oedipal complex or such, it was only that his mother was the closest and only female he knew in his family. Uchiha females are not many in the family. There were more male than female. Of course there were other female relatives, but Sasuke detest being in their presence.

"I just needed the time to think……that's all," Sasuke finally admitted. No matter how much he hated it, he felt he owed some kind of explanation to Naruto.

Looking at the brooding Uchiha with his deep cerulian blue eyes, Naruto snickered.

"What was that for, dobe!"

"Well, I'm just surprised that's all, teme, and from the looks of it, I'm glad you've found someone."

Sasuke's eyes twitches and his upper lips trembled almost…..feral like.

Naruto sighed. "You're lucky, she's very pretty you know. Sweet and nice, all that makes a pretty good girl."

"That's sick, dobe," Sasuke snarled.

"You two get along well, like Sakura-chan and me."

"The two of you are natural disasters on legs, dobe. There is no absolute way in what you are suggesting.

"Yeah right, whatever it is, what is it with Hinata-chan and Itachi-senpai?"

Sasuke's black obsidian pools looked into Naruto's blue ones sharply. His face turned stony. Remembering some part of his past with his big brother.

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**Flashback: **

_Chibi Sasuke wasn't happy. He ran away after her jacket was torn and right in his hands was the other half that was torn. Looking at the torn jacket disgustingly, Sasuke threw it down to the ground and jumped over it with so much hatred and anger pouring out. Once he was satisfied, he took the liberty of kicking it to his heart's content. _

**_Stupid Nii-san! How dare he buy her a jacket!! _**_Sasuke's lips sneered at the partly torn and dirtied jacket. He saw a nearby rubbish bin and his lips curled into one of his menacing smirks. Walking towards the bin, he looked at the jacket for the last time. In you go where you deserve to belong. Then, he threw it inside the bin and walked away. Feeling satisfied, he put his hands in his pocket and snickered. _

_After the fateful incident in school, Hinata was inconsolable. Everyone felt sad and upset over the traumatic experience she was suffering. Even Sasuke's fangirls felt a slight twinge of guilt. At first, Kaede-sensei felt inclined to contact the family which Hinata objected vehemently out of shame and Itachi was called in instead. _

_"What's the matter Hina-chan?" Itachi finally arrived, his face showed some form of concern when Kaede-sensei led him into the infirmary where Hinata lay down on the bed and on her face was still traces of tear streaks on her chubby cheeks. Itachi had a bad feeling about it. Usually when Hinata cry, it was always one thing – Sasuke. _

_For sometime now, Itachi had restrained himself from inflicting any serious injury on his kid brother, but this time it goes out of hand and Itachi is going to need to pay **some **attention to his younger brother. Seeing Hinata crying her heart out literally made Itachi felt weak, but at the same time, feeling an insatiable thirst to avenge her. But before he does anything hasty, he had to know what happened. _

_Sitting down beside the bed, Itachi cupped her small face in his large long fingers pulling her up to meet his gaze. Hinata couldn't help it but hiccupped. _

_Hic….hic….hic. _

_Hinata blushed slightly. Itachi hid a grin. He placed a palm on her chest and a small greenish aura emit from his palm into Hinata. Hinata felt at ease. _

_"Now, would you tell me what happened?" _

_Hinata's eyes was clouded with tears and it fell down her pink tinge cheeks. "It…its….Duck…Butt, I..Itachi-niisan," she sniffed, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "He….he…to…took….the..the…jack…jacket…yo…you gave….me." _

_"Well, we can always take it back from him, ne Hina-chan?" _

_Her pale lavender orbs looked sadly into his. He took out something underneath the sheet of blanket. It looked dirty and very much torn. Itachi's black obsidian whirlpool narrowed at the pitiful lump of cloth in her hands. Hinata's tears did not stop. She kept on crying and held the remnants of her jacket to her chest. _

_"He…he….took it..from me….and jump…jumped on it…Ita…Itachi-niisan. I…I…tried to…take it…but he…he…wouldn't let go..go…un…until it…go…got…ri..ri..ripped. I..I…tried my…best…Itachi-nii!" She tried to convinced Itachi that she really did try to defend her jacket. Itachi took her in his arms and comforted the crying girl. _

_"I know you did, Hina-chan, and don't worry, I believe you." Itachi had the look of murder in his eyes. _

_"Why…why…Du..Duck Butt hate…me so…much…Ita..Itachi-nii?" she sniffed. _

_Itachi didn't know how to answer the question. But he just did. "He's just jealous, Hina-chan." _

_Hinata rubbed her eyes and sniffed. Itachi find it rather cute as he wiped her cheeks with his hands. _

_"He doesn't like us spending time with each other and what is more….," Itachi put his forehead against Hinata's forehead. "You're prettier than him." _

_Hinata blushed a shade of red. "A..ano….boys are…are not….pretty…Itachi-nii! Only girls….are….pretty." _

_Itachi smiled. "Yes, I know that Hina-chan….so does he. And that's why he's….jealous." He patted her small head and she smiled at him. Hinata's large pale eyes bore deep into Itachi's soul. Her eyes filled with the innocence of youth and childishness, totally different than other he had known. Those eyes could tame any beast, Itachi reckoned, and no doubt it'll be a formidable weapon that no sane man could resist at all when she's all grown up. Itachi smiled in amusement thinking of Hinata all grown up. _

_Hinata blushed again when Itachi gave her one of those deep gazes that instantly melt any woman's heart when they chanced upon them. He slowly touched her cheeks and that put an extra shade of red on Hinata's already blushing face. It was also the look that drove Sasuke into jealous frenzy (although he might not realised it). Hinata might not know anything about it considering how naïve and ignorant she is regarding the art of flirtation and seduction. What she only know was Itachi cared about her…..and that was enough. _

_"Forget about my brother, Hina-chan. Like I always said. I'll always be there for you. Even the jacket is torn, I will always be the one to keep you warm and protected. If you need another jacket, I'll get you another one, alright?" _

_"Ho…hontou-ni?" _

_"Hai." _

_"Shall we go home now? I've told your sensei that I'd will walk you home." _

_Hinata nodded her little head, wiping her tear stained cheeks and twirled her finger in front of him. Itachi frowned. And then he grinned, turning his back to her as she climbed up and his arms gripped her little legs. Her small arms wrapped around his strong neck. _

_"Lets go home, Hina-chan?" _

_"Hai, Itachi-niisan!" Hinata felt a little better, but deep sadness still linger within her little heart. Itachi knew better that Hinata wouldn't let her problems burdened him and was pretending that everything was okay. _

_Hinata sighed. She lay her cheeks just on top of his shoulder and slowly doze off after all the crying in the afternoon. When they finally arrived at the gates of the Hyuuga Complex, Itachi shook Hinata to wake up. _

_"Wake up, Hina-chan," Itachi said gently. _

_Hinata woke up groggily. Rubbing her eyes with her hand. "N..Nani?" _

_"We've arrived." _

_"Oh," Hinata looked drowsy and then gave a yawn. He put her down and she winced. _

_"What is wrong, Hina-chan?" _

_"A..a..ano…Itachi-niisan." _

_"Hai, Hina-chan." _

_"My leg hurt." _

_"Where?" _

_She pulled her three-quarter track pants up to her knees and showed him where she was hurt. A rather medium sized cut was covered in dry blood looked….painful. _

_"Why didn't you tell the nurse?" _

_"A..ano…I…forgot, Itachi-nii. I was so…angry at….Duck Butt that time," her head looked down. "It hurts every time I bend my….knees." Hinata rubbed her eyes. _

_Itachi smiled gently at the small little girl and patted her head. He picked her up in his arms and walked towards a small garden with a fountain. He propped her on his lap and took out his white hankerchief and rinsed it in the cool water from the fountain. Then, he wiped the wound with the wet hanky. Hinata winced in pain, but bit her lower lip to prevent her from further gasping in pain. _

_"I have to clean your wound so, bear the pain, ne Hina-chan?" _

_"Ha…hai!" _

_After cleaning the wound with his wet hanky. He took out a band-aid from his pocket. He put Hinata on the edge of the fountain and propped her leg up to his knee and blew it dry. Hinata had a slight blush dancing across her chubby cheeks. Although at 7 of age, Hinata knew the meaning of 'close proximity'. Being close with Itachi made her heart race, and to her, it was not an unpleasant feeling. _

_"Here," Itachi said as he put the band-aid on her injured knee. _

_"A…ari..arigatou Itachi-niisan!" Hinata said. _

_Not far away, a pair of black obsidian orbs was blazing with fury. It was fury laced with jealousy and seeing a jealous Uchiha wasn't a good sign. Nobody in their right mind would want to cross a furious Uchiha, especially a jealous one. In the body of a 7 year-old insanely jealous Uchiha, it was also lethal…..even if he's a 7 year-old kid. _

**_How dare he!! _**_Chibi Sasuke was pissed. His hands fell to his side, hands hardened into tight fists. Sasuke felt like punching something…..like his brother for one. He can't believe the nerve of his older brother taking advantage of a young innocent girl like Hinata?? Sasuke was about to have enough. _

_He followed them after Itachi helped cleaned Hinata's wound and he could feel all his hair stick up when he saw Itachi carried Hinata in his arms via bridal style. _

**_He can't do that!! How dare he touched her as such!! Stupid Nii-san! _**_Chibi Sasuke was so angry that he could feel tears building up in his eyes. **No one touches my property and gets away with it….not even Nii-san! **_

_His jealousy went up another notch when his dark eyes saw Hinata giving Itachi a kiss on the cheek! _

**_How dare she!!_**_ Chibi Sasuke could feel smoke coming out from his ears now. Looking at his brother coming down his way, Sasuke glared angrily at the object of his jealousy without realising that his brother disappeared half way on the street. Before he knew it, Itachi stood right behind him. _

_"And you call yourself a shinobi? You shame me, otouto," Itachi crossed his arms. His dark eyes glanced in amusement over his little brother. _

_Sasuke looked up at his older brother and yelled, "How dare **you** carry **her** and put your scummy hands around what is mine?!" _

_Itachi looked amused. He didn't expect Sasuke would directly confront him about Hinata. _

_"That is my business, otouto. And besides," Itachi smirked, putting his hands in his pocket. "If I'm not mistaken, you….like….her??" _

_"Tch." Sasuke still glared at his brother. Holding his tears and spat out, "I DON'T LIKE TOMATO FREAK LIKE YOU DO!!" _

_"If that is so my brother, why does it bother you so much then…hmm?" _

_Sasuke was speechless. He realised something amiss. There was an inch of truth in what Itachi was saying and Sasuke hated it. _

_"My business. She's my property and not yours and I get to do what I want with her! I met her first and **not** you!" _

**_That's so lame Sasuke. _**_He said to himself. Hoping his brother would buy it. _

**_Yeah right!_**_ Itachi grinned. _

_"First and foremost, she's **not** your property, otouto. And as I recalled, she's never like you in anyway. In fact, she despises you and your very existence." Looking at his younger brother again. "Hinata likes me better and you can never win over me." _

_"Tch." _

_Itachi smirked. "Either way, you're losing otouto. You're too young to understand this and I don't expect you to." _

_"I do what I want and you can't stop me, Nii-sama!" _

_Itachi ruffled his brother's hair and then pushed him onto the ground hard. Itachi's sharingan blazed forth into crimson orbs, looking down on his brother with almost feral anger. _

_"You take her jacket, fine. But if you made her cry or hurt her like that again, you wish you've never known what is a sharingan, Sasuke. I won't forgive you," Itachi hissed at Sasuke. _

_Sasuke looked at his brother. His dark eyes widened in amazement. He couldn't believe how his only brother threatened him. In all his life, Itachi have never been this hard towards him except for training purposes, and this time, it was a different Itachi. Sasuke could also feel a dangerous aura radiating from his brother's legendary crimson eyes – the Mangekyou Sharingan. _

_"Listen Sasuke," Itachi deactivated his sharingan and pulled his brother by the collar up close to face him. "I don't want to hurt you in anyway, and you're still so very young. But I promise you this, I won't be very forgiving to anyone who hurts Hina-chan and that includes you." _

_"Tch." _

_"And that is getting very annoying, otouto." _

_"Whatever." _

_"Heed my warning or else…." _

_Itachi threw his brother down and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke grumbled while still sitting on the ground with his knees up. Sasuke remembered something. He walked around until he saw it. Half of Hinata's torn jacket was still in the bin. He took it out and looked at it for a long time before tucking it into his shirt. Keeping it close to his skin and walked home. _

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Hinata couldn't shake off the feeling she had when she and Sasuke were oh-so-close with one another. The feeling of close proximity left her feeling a little shaken and surprisingly...nervous. Even after their first P.E. class, the feeling still lingers on. It was one of those nagging and irritating emotions that couldn't stop bothering her mind and Hinata was…..confused.

_What is this weird feeling inside? Shouldn't I be angry at him? He's never done anything like that before. _Hinata said to herself, flipping with the zip of her jacket.

Sasuke who sat at the opposite noticed how Hinata's expression was, smirked satisfactorily to himself.

_I'm going to get rid of that jacket somehow, but the question is…..how?_ Sasuke asked himself, twirling the pencil in his fingers.

After school, Hinata quickly walked out of the class and out of the school compound, heading towards the familiar training grounds. Putting her bag down leaning against one of the trees, Hinata breathed in the fresh air.

"You're late."

Hinata looked around.

"Up here."

She looked up, and smiled.

Itachi jumped down right in front of her.

"How was school?"

"It was….alright."

"Sasuke didn't….do…anything…inappropriate. Did he not?"

Hinata's eyes widened at Itachi's statement. Itachi noticed the look she gave him. He frowned deeply as Hinata grabbed his arms.

"It…It was nothing….inappropriate!" she exclaimed. "It was only a game. A basketball…game. He….lost and landed….on..me."

Itachi's expression was that of stoicness that could rivaled Hinata's father anytime.

"But…don't worry….Itachi-nii….no..nothing hap..happened to…me."

"Are you sure?" His expression turned that of more into concern.

"Ha…hai!" she smiled at him. Her large pale eyes looked into his.

Itachi wrapped his arms around Hinata and pulled her into a hug. Hinata blushed slightly and put her arms around him. Itachi's chin rest on top of her head.

"If he does anything towards you, you must tell me, Hina-chan. I don't want him to hurt you or anything, you know that, don't you?"

Hinata nodded her head. Still blushing.

"I know you don't want any confrontation between my brother and I. But, it's also my duty to make sure that he don't sully the Uchiha name and that includes protecting you as well, Hina-chan."

She nodded her head again. Burying her face into his chest.

Itachi smiled. Gently stroking her head. Feeling glad that Hinata was wrapped in his arms. He sighed in contentment, forgetting everything while he was with Hinata. For years he and Hinata shared a common ground and trust eversince the first time they've met. Itachi grew to care for her and Hinata's presence grew on him. At first, he never noticed how important Hinata's presence was to him. Especially when he returns from his mission, he would always make it an imperative to see her first before the Hokage.

"How about we go for an ice-cream?" Itachi asked, releasing her from his clutches but still held her shoulders.

"Ne, aren't we gonna train?"

"Well, not for today. I feel we ought to do something different today."

Hinata smiled shyly as her cheeks blushed slightly pink. "Hai."

"Come." Itachi said as Hinata picked up her bag and walked alongside him.

Not far from the scene, another pair of black eyes belonging to a Uchiha Sasuke was blazing with anger and fury.

"So, you're still seeing her, ne Nii-sama?" Sasuke hissed. Throwing his rage upon looking at his older brother who was walking alongside Hinata.

Sensing a deadly aura, Itachi turned slightly as he walked and smirked at that direction. _You're always that stupid, ne otouto?_

Sasuke couldn't deny the bitter feeling like his heart was squeezed tight when he first saw them hugged each other. Anger coursed through his veins and was biting his lower lip as he hold his tears from escaping.

Sasuke glared at the two figures walking away and beginning to go deep in his thoughts. _Nii-sama has already made his move…..I must make my next step. I'm not going to let that Tomato Freak spending her time with Nii-sama. And **he'd** better not get his hands all over her!_ Gripping his hand into a tight fist, Sasuke punched the tree next to him. Blood seeped through the tiny gap between his fist and the tree.

"I….won't….give….up." He swore, looking up in the sky…..

**- TBC - **

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**A/N: Sorry Julia, I thought I could fit in the Flagpole Moments in here, but I don't think so since the scene is not suitable…..I have that particular chapter in the laptop, so just be patient alright guys?? **

**I'm so glad tat everyone love the fic, and are DYING to read the part where Sasuke gets jealous….yeah, he will….don't worry….Hinata won't know about Sasuke's feelings for her….yeah, I'm going to put Sasuke in a lotttt of agony...for those who ask about the pairing...its a SasuHinaIta pairing...**

**And thank you all for ur reviews….sorry I can't reply them personally which I used to, but I'll try to make it up and TRY to answer your questions personally the next time alright?? **


	7. When Love & Hate Collides

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto **

**A/N: Wow….I never thought Chibi Hina-chan & Chibi Sasuke-kun would be a hit wif you guys….yeah, I kinda like 'em too…..I can even imagine them! In fact, I got the idea after seeing a picture on deviantart…..I forgot who was the artist, coz I used the pic as my icon. You guys can check it out on my profile. Yeah, and I'm gonna use tat scene describing certain parts of the fic……and thanx everyone for ****ur**** support!! **

**Julia – woman! This chappie goes for you! And thanx for even suggesting it!! **

**Okay people, this is somewhat longer than I usually write, especially for you guys…..hope all of you enjoy! **

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**Recap: **

_Sasuke couldn't deny the bitter feeling like his heart was squeezed tight when he first saw them hugged each other. Anger coursed through his veins and was biting his lower lip as he hold his tears from escaping. _

_Sasuke glared at the two figures walking away and beginning to go deep in his thoughts. **Nii-sama has already made his move…..I must make my next step. I'm not going to let that Tomato Freak spending her time with Nii-sama. And he'd better not get his hands all over her! **Gripping his hand into a tight fist, Sasuke punched the tree next to him. Blood seeped through the tiny gap between his fist and the tree. _

_"I….won't….give….up." He swore, looking up in the sky….. _

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**CHAPTER 6: WHEN LOVE & HATE COLLIDES (PART 1) **

**The next day: **

P.E. with Gai-sensei was like a death sentence in disguise. Everyone groaned in pain when he had them do 1000 push-ups. The girls all had their eyes widened in shock. Even the boys. And they were all shock for the wrong reason.

They were checking out Hinata again in her P.E. clothes – again. This time, someone replaced her school t-shirt with a size smaller. The size of the drool on the floor – doubled.

Hinata felt a huge wave of uncomfortability when they were doing push-ups. The boys couldn't even concentrate on their exercises and were staring at Hinata doing push-ups. Eyes up….eyes down.

"Psst…Hinata-chan," Sakura whispered next to her.

"Yes Sakura-chan?"

"Err…don't….don't you…think that…that….your…errr….shirt is a little…._small_?"

Hinata blushed furiously. _And here I thought I was the only one who noticed it!_

She snapped out of her reverie when she realised something……All the boys noticed her blushing, sighed contently.

Ino stood next to Hinata and murmured into her ears, "I wouldn't be surprised as in the animal kingdon calls it 'mating season'. And it is pretty obvious which 'female' the 'males' are fighting for."

"Are you jealous Ino-pig?" Sakura smirked.

"Hell no, Billboard-brow!"

"What is there to be jealous about?" Sasuke suddenly said. Leaning against the pillar of the basketball hoop (**A/N: If that is what you call it!**).

Hinata frowned.

All of a sudden, both Ino and Sakura latched their arms on Sasuke's side. "SASUKE-_KUN_!!"

If there was any way Sasuke could vanish into thin air, he would've done it by now. The sound of spending his holiday in the Alcatraz sounded so much better than having fangirls surrounding him even a second!

"Oi Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled at the blushing Hyuuga heiress.

"Oh…hi…Na..Naruto-kun," Hinata's melodious voice responded to Naruto.

Sasuke frowned.

"Ne…Hinata-chan," Naruto said.

"Ha…hai..Na..Naru…to-kun?" Hinata blushed.

"Why is that your shirt looked smaller?" Naruto scratched his head absently.

"BAKA!!" Kiba smack him hard on the head.

Hinata blushed another shade of red as she held her hands across her chest. She felt like crying as if her body was exposed to everyone for viewing pleasure.

"Oww! What was that for??" Naruto demanded, glaring angrily at Kiba.

"You're embarrassing Hinata here!" Kiba pointed out, and everyone noticed that he was pointing towards Hinata's chest.

Hinata whimpered.

"BAKA!!" Sakura smacked him on the head.

"HENTAI!!" Ino slapped him across the face.

Everyone sweat dropped. Kiba literally had 'X' marked in his eyes.

Naruto laughed and pointed at the unconscious Inuzuka.

"I can't believe how horny that Kiba is!" Sakura fumed.

"Well, at least his cousin Kazu-kun wasn't at all like him," Ino replied. "Kiba, you disgust me!"

"_Heeel….ll..pp_!!" Kiba moaned.

"Is all my beautiful youths ready for their springtime of youth?!" Gai asked excitedly. His perfectly white-shined teeth gleamed brightly, with hands on his hips.

Everyone sweat dropped. Thinking what would be the worst that could happen.

Shikamaru held his hands up.

"Yes Shikamaru?" Gai asked.

"Chouji was admitted into the infirmary. Again."

Gai nodded his head.

"Gai-sensei," Sasuke said. "Are we going to play basketball again?"

"Hai Sasuke!!" Gai exclaimed. "I want all of you to play this _wonderful_ game since the beauty of your youths shone through the energy and determination you all displayed last week was so extraordinary, I want all of you to play it again!"

He then looked at both Hinata and Sasuke. "I've seen the two of you play, and it was a remarkably beautiful display of tactics and strategy of how you enjoy your glorious youthfulness! The rest of the class should follow by your example!"

"This is going to be trouble with a capital 'T'," Ino murmured.

"Yeah, how troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, taking a seat on the benches.

"Aren't you going to play, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"With those two glaring at each other? Its too troublesome for me," Shikamaru said, leaning back against the benches while all of them noticed the killer looks which both Hinata and Sasuke were throwing at one another.

"I wanna be in Sasuke-kun's team!!" Sakura exclaimed. Latching herself to Sasuke's arms.

Not wanting to lose out to her arch-rival. Ino jumped up and latched herself onto his other arm. "Me too!!"

"Butt out pig!" Sakura yelled. Her green eyes flashing angrily.

"Over your freaking pink hair, forehead girl!" Ino's sapphire blue ones glaring at Sakuras' emerald green ones.

Sasuke's eyes was twitching as he was prepared to burst out anytime.

"So," Hinata smirked. "It seems like history is going to repeat itself huh?" Crossing her arms across her ample chest.

"What history Tomato Freak?"

"Oh, don't tell me you've forgotten how badly you lose to me previously?"

"Yeah right!" Sasuke finally managed to pull himself away from his fangirls. "That…that wasn't losing. I…I…was just…giving you…face! Coz you're….a….._girl_!"

Hinata sneered back at him. "Well, just admit it that you lost to me, Duck Butt. Everyone knows it."

"I did _not_ lose to you! You're just jealous!"

"_WHAT!?_" Hinata went into an octave. Her flushed face obviously shown

"Oh hell," Ino groaned.

"Are we going through this again?" Naruto looked blankly at Kiba.

Kiba and Shikamaru sighed.

Gai just love watching the interaction between those two. "Those are just two beautiful expression between youths. Expressing their love for one another!!"

Both Hinata and Sasuke stopped their arguments and stared stupidly at their teacher. The rest of the class froze and stared as well.

Not realising that Hinata had her Byakugan activated and Sasuke his Sharingan. Both felt an urgent need to kill an annoying beast in green spandex until…..

"_GAI-SENSEI_!!!"

Everyone had a jaw-dropped experience.

"O-M-G." Both Ino and Sakura muttered at the same time. Trying hard to digest the view before them.

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He looked to the left, and then to the right.

_Okay. Coast is clear. _He said to himself, sneaking in through the window and jumped down stealthily onto the floor. Still crouching, he heightened his senses a few notches and checked whether the coast is clear for him to move around.

He looked through the lockers until he found what he was searching for.

"Hyuuga Hinata. Good," he smirked. Picking the lock was a small matter. Once he was done, his black eyes gleamed viciously. "Alright Tomato Freak, time for a little payback."

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"That was probably the scariest moment of my entire life!" Ino was practically yapping away as the girls finished shower and started to dress. "I think Kimi-chan had a concussion when he ran into us just now."

"Yeah," Sakura added. "Not to mention he totally freaked Yumi-chan and Mizuno-chan with his err…unusual display of acrobatics in spandex!"

The girls were still busy chatting with one another until they heard Hinata gasped in surprise.

"What's the matter Hinata-chan?" Ino asked worriedly.

Hinata's pale eyes looked troubled. All the girls in the changing room was looking at the panic-stricken Hyuuga heiress.

"I…I…I can't…fi…find my…my….jacket!" Hinata was rummaging through her things.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other. The other girls all gave the same blank look on their faces.

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**Half an hour later: **

"I don't think it's around here Hinata-chan," Sakura said, wiping her brow. "Are you sure you put it in _your_ locker?"

Hinata nodded her head. She looked so grief-stricken. Her eyes started to swell with tears when she heard Sakura said so.

"Then where could it be??" Ino muttered, putting both hands on her hips, with her legs spread wider in a stance.

Suddenly, three girls ran into the changing room and were panting heavily.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked.

One of the girls were pointing outside while the other one tried her best to get a breather and the auburn haired girl finally said. "Ou…out…si..side!"

"_Huh_??" Almost all the girls gave the same response.

"What is it Aya-chan?" Ino asked.

"Hi…Hina…ta's….jack…jacket!" Aya, the girl with darkish blond pigtails replied.

Hinata's large lavender tinted eyes widened. "Whe…where?" Her voice croaked.

"The field," Aya replied.

All the girls took a look at Hinata. And before they could blink, Hinata dashed out of the room and out towards the football field.

Right there, leaning against the flagpole post was Sasuke. Crossing his arms, he smirked viciously at her.

Hinata frowned angrily.

He pointed upwards.

Hinata's eyes went all the way up. Right up there. On top of the flagpole…..was Hinata's jacket. Flapping against the winds of Konoha.

Hinata turned her head sharply at Sasuke and glared furiously at him before she did the inevitable.

"_DUCK BUTTTTTT!!!_" Hinata launched herself against the offending Uchiha and started to strangle him with all her might. Sasuke, who was naturally shocked by her outburst, defended himself against her attacks by going straight for her hair. Both of them were struggling on the grounds as Hinata had her hands around his neck while Sasuke had his on her hair. It was one amazing sight to behold.

Ino sighed. "This is so troublesome."

Sakura turned towards her blond bestfriend. "You sound like Shikamaru."

Ino grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, can't help it."

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"I hope you have a _good_ explanation for this," Uchiha Fugaku said, looking sternly at his youngest son. His arms crossed across his police uniform.

Uchiha Sasuke. Fourteen years old. Uchiha Clan's 'spare' to the 'heir'. Youngest son to Uchiha Fugaku was sporting two black eyes, a bleeding nose, a bruised cheek and had lost a front tooth, was a sight to behold.

"Hinata," Hyuuga Hiashi said in the same icy cold tone towards his eldest child.

Hyuuga Hinata. Fourteen years old. Heiress to Konoha's most distinguished and oldest clan. Eldest child and daughter to Hyuuga Hiashi sported a black eye, a bruised upper lip and ruffed up messy hair was definitely out of the ordinary.

Both sat before their fathers. On the ground. Right on their knees, kneeling. With their heads bowed down.

Sasuke was in pain. But he had to bear it. He stole a glance at his arch-nemesis who kneeled down right beside him. He smirked.

Hinata was also in pain, but she couldn't help it but sniff helplessly.

Both Hiashi and Fugaku sighed.

_When will they both grow up? _Fugaku pondered.

_Why can't they act like adults?_ Hiashi thought.

Both clan leaders looked at one another. They both had the same thought running through their mind.

"Hn," Hiashi murmured.

"Tch," Fugaku muttered.

"Hyuuga-sama, Uchiha-sama." A man with heavy scars on his face looked at both clan leaders. "I'm Ibiki Morino, the Academy's Head of Discipline," Ibiki introduced himself. "I've talked to Principal Sarutobi and he has agreed to let this slide, but with the exception that both the children will have to receive their punishment."

"Punishment!" Sasuke yelled.

"Pu…pun..punish…ment?" Hinata gasped.

"Oww!" Sasuke yelped as Fugaku flicked his ears.

Hinata crouched much lower at her father's deadly gaze.

Ibiki sighed. Knowing the history between the young Hyuuga and Uchiha through their records, it was amazing that both of them were still alive.

"What is the punishment, Ibiki?" Fugaku said. "I hope its sufficiently met."

"Don't worry, Fugaku. Tsunade-sama have seen to it and the matter will be properly dealt with," Ibiki replied.

"Hn."

"Tch."

Ignoring the adults, both Hinata and Sasuke were still giving death glares towards one another.

_Dumbass duck._ Hinata mouthed at him.

_Stupid tomato._ He replied back, with equal malice.

Both Hiashi and Fugaku looked at one another. Fugaku gave Hiashi a I-know-how-to-keep-them-both-quiet look. And his counterpart nodded his head in agreement.

"Sasuke, Hinata-chan," Fugaku said. Both teens looked at the elder Uchiha.

"Hai, Otou-sama."

"Hai, Ooji-sama."

"If the both of you do not behave, Hiashi-sama and I would have no choice but to bethrothed the two of you and you both will have to spend the rest of your lives together. What about that, huh?"

Hinata paled.

Sasuke blanched.

Both head of clans grinned from ear to ear.

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"You can't believe it, Itachi-nii! How that _stupid_ _dumbass_ of a _duck_ _had my_ jacket tied all the way up there and….and….arrgghhhh!!" Hinata grumbled, beating the ground she was sitting on. Releasing all that pent-up tension building inside of her.

Itachi smirked at Hinata's antics. Thinking of how adorable Hinata looked when she was angry, her cheeks flushed against the nasty looking bruise.

"Just ignore him, Hina-chan."

"He's just too bloody annoying to be ignored, Itachi-nii! He just can't leave me alone! Every. Single. Day!"

_Hmm….it seemed that Sasuke and I have to have that little talk that we've delayed so far._ Itachi said to himself.

"No matter what, Hina-chan, just ignore him. No matter what he uses or says, you must have the will power to fully ignore him."

She peered up at him. "Is…Is…that how….you….you…deal with him, ne, Itachi-nii?"

Itachi looked down at her. His dark eyes gazed into her lovely pale ones. To him, her eyes are so full of pure innocence and love. And that was how he fell for her. Initially, he had thoughts of just using Hinata to aggravate his little brother, but it seemed that her influence on him had grew into something……stronger. And it stuck to him ever since.

To Itachi, Hinata was something pure and untainted and the feeling of just being by her side, calms him. Hinata trusts him, believed in him, with all her heart, without any single doubt whatsoever. That pleases him because no matter what he do or say, Hinata believed him all the way. Not like the others. Everyone else had thoughts that whatever he does, is because to further his ambitions.

But that was not Itachi. No.

Only Hinata. Knew him truly. Heart and soul, Hinata knew. And for that, Itachi was willing to lay down everything for her.

Touching the darkened spot on her right eye, he gently caress it with his fingers. "Does it still hurt?"

"Uhmm." She nodded her head. Her eyes wide and the pink on her cheeks deepened at Itachi's ministrations on her bruised eye.

He could hear her deep breaths and smiled softly. Then, he leaned forward and gently kissed the darkened part of her eye, leaving a warm lingering feeling of his breath against her pink tinged cheeks.

Hinata who was caught by surprise, blushed a hundred times fold as she swore she could feel her heart rammed and battered her ribcage. And she thought she would die of embarrassment if Itachi could hear how loud her heart thumped!

Her large beautiful pale eyes looked away shyly.

Itachi smirked. He put his finger under her chin and pulled her face up to face his.

"Hina-chan."

"Uhmm?"

"If let's say…one day," he paused. Trying to figure out his sentence.

"A…ano, Itachi-nii. What is..it about….one..day?"

He kept his gaze locked onto hers.

_Do you want to be my….wife? _

No. Itachi couldn't say it. He _can't. _He turned away and looked far into Konoha's forest.

"What is it, Itachi-nii?"

"I-ie, Hina-chan."

"Why won't you tell me?"

Itachi looked at the black-eyed Hyuuga sitting closed next to him. He pressed his forehead against hers and replied amusingly, "Not until that black eye goes, Hina-chan!"

"Itachi-nii!!"

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**Uchiha Manor: That night **

"Oww!!" Sasuke yelled. "Kaa-san! It hurts!"

"Of course it hurts, especially when you get into fights, Sasuke!" Mikoto looked at her youngest son furiously. "I have no idea what on earth possess you to….to….pick fights with a young lady!"

"Hmph!" Sasuke snorted. _Young lady my ass! _

Fugaku was laughing.

"Fugaku!!" Mikoto chided her husband. "Now is not the time to laugh! It is embarrassing that my baby gets into a fight, and with Hina-chan some more!"

"That's it, Mikoto-koi," Fugaku looked amused. "It is funny and at the same time, downright embarrassing for Sasuke since it was _he_ who lost the match."

"I did _not_ lose!" Sasuke replied indignantly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Now then Sasuke," Fugaku looked at his son. "How come you had two black ones while she only had one, and how did you managed to lose a tooth while she still had hers intact?" Fugaku paused. "I heard from Ibiki-sensei that you were pretty much underneath her when they reached the fighting scene."

Sasuke gave his father his trademark 'death glare'.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Mikoto looked at Sasuke. She raised an eyebrow. Sasuke started to shiver. "I want you to go over to the Hyuugas tomorrow and apologised to Hinata-chan for what you did to her."

Sasuke was about to protest when Mikoto smack his head with her palm.

"I am ashamed that my baby boy had the nerve to fight a girl, and of all girl, Hinata-chan. She's so adorable! I can't imagine what on earth possess you to go and picked on such a young sweet thing. You disappoint me, Sasuke."

Sasuke could feel bile rising up to his throat. _Adorable?? Young?? Sweet??_ Is his mother gone loco up in her head? Sasuke can't believe what his mother is making him do.

"But Kaa-san!"

"No buts, Sasuke. You either go there and apologise or I swear to Kami-sama that you'll never live to regret you hadn't do it."

Fugaku wished he had his videocam on with him at that time, because the look on Sasuke's face was simply…………..priceless.

Back in his room. Sasuke was pissed off mad. Lying down on the bed, he thrashed himself around trying to release the pressure of stress that had accumulated in his mind.

"That's not fair!!" Sasuke was angry. _Why do I have to apologise to Tomato Freak?! It's all her fault that got me into this mess! _

"Sasuke." A silent but yet dangerous voice muttered in Sasuke's semi-darkened room.

"Aniki?"

"Did you not heed my warning, Otouto?"

Sasuke glared angrily over at his brother's shadow by the window. "Hmph!" Sasuke snorted. Deep down, Sasuke knew that it was his fault, but refused to admit it was.

Without any warning, Sasuke felt extreme pain on his back when he found himself being slammed into the wall of his room. Sasuke snarled furiously at his brother.

"A little advice for you, my brother," Itachi muttered between clenched teeth. "What belongs to me, stays with me, and that includes _my_ girl." He paused. "As I have said before, you may be my brother, but if you hurt someone who is precious to me, I won't hesitate to deal with you…..personally."

Sasuke remained stoic as he glared at his older brother, whom he adored since childhood. But when Hinata entered their lives, many things have changed, and Sasuke hated it. He had lost his beloved brother to a……stranger. Worst, a Hyuuga.

Both brothers had their sharingans on and were eyeing each other with equal ferocity, refusing to back down.

"Don't forget Aniki," Sasuke smirked. "It isn't over yet, coz she still have a choice."

"Of course, Otouto." Itachi smirked back. "You're nine years too late, and I'm way ahead of you."

Sasuke's expression turned solemn as Itachi walked out of his room. Before Itachi leave, he turned around and looked at his younger sibling. "You will never win her over, Sasuke. No matter what you do, she will _never _be yours." With that, Itachi slammed the door.

Slumping down on his bed, Sasuke covered his face with his forearm. He knows his brother had stated the truth. Itachi was _way_ in front of him. Besides, he was running out of time to exact his revenge.

No….It wasn't that he hated her, nor he liked her….but he didn't know why he was doing this. True, he was thinking of taking revenge, but it doesn't really make sense to him. But she was so damn irritating and Sasuke hated that guts she displayed in front of him. Always torturing him…..tormenting him…..annoyed him…..it just never ends!

Sasuke shrugged, got up from his bed and pulled a box from under his bed. He opened it and looked inside.

There were pictures of Hinata which he silently took. There were also pictures of Hinata in kimono during their kindergarten graduation. And yeah, he stole those pictures from Itachi's album. In those pictures, Hinata wasn't posing by purpose at all. It was pictures of Hinata having school lunch…..Hinata laughing in class……Hinata dozing off during Maths class…..Hinata training alone at the training grounds…..Hinata in an apron during cookery class.

Those were all candid pictures of Hinata. Putting those aside, he looked at the various shapes and sizes of prettily wrapped presents. Those were all the birthday presents Sasuke bought for Hinata since they were in kindergarten, but never had the courage to give them to her. Except for one…..his first gift to her……

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**Flashback: 9 Years Ago **

**All the Rookie 9: 5 year olds **

_It was a cold winter day in December, Chibi Sasuke was walking down the street with his mother, accompanying her to buy some groceries. Sasuke didn't know why his mother like to go through all the trouble of going out of the warm and comfortable house into the cold blistering agony of winter. She could just always get the maids to do it, its not like they don't have any maids around. _

_"Tch." Sasuke snorted. Feeling slightly agitated. His nii-san was lucky. Out on a mission. But what he had to do?? Accompanying his mother. Shopping. _

_Sasuke sighed. _

_Sporting his usual dark blue jacket with high collar with a white thick looking scarf wrapped around his neck. Since it's winter, he did not wear his usual white or black shorts but instead a long black pants. Sasuke looked unusually adorable, all bundled up like big round ball. _

_"Do you want to stop for some hot cocoa, Suke-chan?" Mikoto asked her son, calling him by his pet name. _

_Sasuke glared up at his mother. "Kaa-chan!" Chibi Sasuke pouted. His chubby cheeks were tinged in pink as he glared at his mother. "I'm a big boy now! Otou-sama said that I am no more a small boy!" _

_Mikoto tried her best to stifle her giggle by putting a hand over her mouth, looking down at her adorable little boy. _

_"Hai, hai! Sasuke-kun! Now, is that better?" _

_"Hn." _

_Mikoto laughed out loud this time. Sasuke was mimicking his father. Trying hard to be a grown up and to be accepted, following the footsteps of his older brother. _

_"Oh," Mikoto gasped. Sasuke turned his head around and looked at what his mother was looking. _

_"What is it Kaa-chan??" _

_Mikoto looked down at her son and dragged him into one of the shops. "Hello Hiashi!" She greeted the head of the Hyuuga clan. _

_Sasuke immediately turned and looked at Hiashi. Tall, long-haired and stoically calm, Hiashi reminded Sasuke of his own father, but unlike Hiashi, Fugaku was much more unpredictable _

_Noting that the Hyuuga head had the same look on his face since Sasuke first met him some time ago. Then, looking downwards in Hiashi's arms was the pale looking Hyuuga heiress. _

_Hinata. _

_His mortal enemy. _

_His close rival. _

_His arch-nemesis. _

_His pain in the ass. _

_Sasuke scowled. _

_Hinata stared at him, and then frowned. Her nose was slightly red, and she was sniffing. Holding her hanky in one of her hands, and a small package tucked under her other arm, Hinata wiped her nose. She had flu. Then, she was broken from her trance when her father touched her small head. "Oh," her small chubby lips mouthed a small 'oh'. Hiashi put her down and Hinata straightened her pale lilac kimono and bowed slightly at Mikoto. "Ohayo, Mikoto-obasan!" She then looked up at Mikoto who giggled excitedly. _

_"Ohayo Hina-chan! Are you feeling alright, dear?" Mikoto knelt down before the young Hyuuga girl and pinched her cute chubby cheeks. "Ohh…Hinata-chan's so kawaii! Ne, Sasuke-kun??" _

_Sasuke felt a jolt on his arms. "Sasuke-kun, what do you say? Come on now, don't be rude." _

_"Ohayo, Hyuuga-sama," Sasuke bowed slightly towards Hiashi. _

_"Hn." Hiashi replied. _

_Silence. _

_Jolted again. Sasuke frowned at his mother. "What??" It was obvious that Sasuke was irritated. _

_Mikoto nudged her son forward to the shy Hinata. _

**_You've gotta be kidding me??_**_ Sasuke's black eyes widened. He gave a look at his mother. Mikoto raised an eyebrow. _

**_Okay. She raised her eyebrow. Not good._**_ Sasuke said to himself. _

_Sasuke felt like killing somebody right now, but they were in a store, and in public places, now was not a good time to throw tantrums. **Whoa! Me?? Throwing tantrums?? Hell no! Uchiha Sasuke is a big boy! **Sasuke said to himself and gave himself a nod. _

_He turned around and looked at Hinata in the eye. _

_"Ohayo……Tomato Freak." _

_Hinata's eyes twitched. _

_Mikoto and Hiashi sweat dropped. _

_"O..ha…yo….Duck Butt." _

_Sasuke's eyes twitched. _

_"Stupid tomato." _

_"Dumbass duck." _

_The day didn't turn out well for both Mikoto and Hiashi when both their children began to quarrel. Until Sasuke pushed Hinata and Hinata lost her step, she fell down and so was her package. Everyone could hear the sound of crashing onto the floor as Hinata's pale lavender tinted eyes gazed achingly at her broken present. _

_Hinata got up and held the small package. Untying the strings, it was a small porcelain figurine of two birdlike creatures. She held it close to her. Her eyes filled with tears as she wiped her running nose with the sleeve of her kimono. _

_"Uchiha Sasuke!!" Mikoto was on the top of her voice. Sasuke flinched. His mother has a very penetrating voice. Very penetrating one. _

_"Its alright Hinata, let's go now, you're not feeling well," Hiashi said, pulling his daughter up and held her in his arms. He then gave Sasuke a look. _

_"Gomenasai Hiashi! I'm sure Sasuke didn't mean it." Mikoto looked apologetic. Holding onto her son in her tight grasp. Feeling a need to punish Sasuke right on the spot. "Gomen-ne, Hinata-chan." _

_Hinata tried to smile at Mikoto but when she looked at Sasuke, tears just wouldn't stop flowing. _

_"Its alright, Mikoto. Besides, Hinata just had fever yesterday and coincidently, today is her birthday." _

_"Aahh….gomen Hina-chan," Mikoto said, putting a hand on Hinata's arm. "I'll get you another one, ne?" _

_Hinata shook her head and bury her face in folds of her father yukata as they left the shop. _

_Then, Mikoto turned and faced her son. Sasuke flinched. "Uchiha Sasuke. Home. Now." _

_Without saying anything to aggravate his mother, Sasuke turned his legs and begin to walk fast on the opposite side. He managed to turn around and stole a look at the Hyuugas. Deep down, he felt sad when he saw Hinata shed tears. It wasn't the normal tears that she shed when she quarreled with him. It almost broke his heart when he saw her like that. And he knows that it was all his fault. _

------------------xx------------------

**Back at the Uchiha Manor: **

_Fugaku looked at his son. Hard. He sighed. Regrettably. _

_"You know Sasuke," his father said. "If you really liked her, you don't have to be very brutal about it. The way you show her you liked her indicates the opposite. Women have very very complex mind, you know?" _

_"Fugaku," Mikoto glared angrily at her husband. _

_"Okay, I take it back," Fugaku said. "What I mean is that Sasuke, what you did was wrong. You're a big boy now and at your age, your brother did not waste his time bullying little girls or chasing anything in skirts." **Thank Kami-sama it wasn't anything in pants for that matter.** Fugaku sighed in relief, and concentrated back to Sasuke. "He was already able to throw fifteen shurikens at the same time." _

_"Tch." _

_"Stop mimicking me!" Fugaku was irritated. Then he added, "In order to be a man, you must learn and know what sense of responsibility is, Sasuke. And if you know what responsibility means, you're already a man. But there's also other ways to show that you're a man, but I'm sure your mother will have my head on the chopping block if I were to tell you about it." _

_"Ahem!!" Mikoto glared at her husband. Her sharingan activated. (**A/N: Yeah, Sasuke and Itachi's mom knows how to activate her sharingan coz she was a kunoichi once before she marry Fugaku**). _

_Fugaku shivered as he asked his wife, "What did Sasuke do this time?" _

_"Mandarin duck," Mikoto replied. Both Uchiha men looked at her. _

_"Heh??" Both Uchiha men looked dumbfounded. _

_Mikoto ignored them. "Apparently, it was Hinata-chan's birthday gift. Hiashi said that it was the last item in the store and there weren't anymore." _

_"Why the hell would she want a **duck** for a present?" Sasuke wondered. _

_"UCHIHA SASUKE!! DON'T YOU DARE USE ANY PROFANITIES IN MY HOUSE!" Mikoto yelled at her son. _

_Fugaku looked at his son in disgust. "You just really had to do that, didn't you, Sasuke??" _

_After listening to his mother nagged for an hour and a half, Sasuke asked his mother after she had calmed down. "Kaa-chan, is Mandarin Ducks that important?" _

_Mikoto looked at her son. His adorable face showed sign of complete innocence in the subject matter, so she just sighed and proceed to tell him. _

_"Of course! Especially for all women, because mandarin ducks are symbolic for true love and represent happy everlasting marriage! (Sigh) An everlasting love is what all women wants, Sasuke, and I'm sure Hinata-chan also feels the same way. Mandarin ducks also symbolizes fidelity and eternity. There is a legend behind the mandarin ducks, and from what I know, it was Hinata-chan's favourite story." _

_"Hn." (**Translates: Oh**) _

_"Do you want to know?" _

_"Hn!" (**Translates: Why'd you think I'd ask you for?**) _

_Mikoto smiled, and proceed to tell her son the story of eternal love between a husband and wife, separated by death only to find themselves meeting each other again, honouring their promise and vow to love each other for all eternity. The gods looked at them favourably and reincarnated them as mandarin ducks who mates for life and are not ashamed to show their love and affection for one another. _

_Sasuke stared wide-eyed at his mother. _

_Very quickly, he gave a slight bow to his mother and quickly left the room. Mikoto looked at her son and then at her snickering husband. _

_"It is not funny, Fugaku." _

_"I didn't say it was." _

_Once in his room, Sasuke took out something from his cupboard. A rather medium sized coin box and shook out all it's contents. He calculated all the money he has, and deposited them in his coin pouch. Sasuke then took his jacket and wore his shawl around his neck. _

_He walked to the living room where his parents were, looking around, his mother wasn't around. "I'm going out for a while." His tone was that of seriousness in it. _

_"Where are you going, Sasuke?" Fugaku asked, peering from his newspaper. _

_"To be a man, Otou-sama," Sasuke said. _

_Fugaku grinned, standing right in front of his son. Putting a hand on his youngest's shoulders, he nodded his head. Giving him his permission. _

_"Before that, Otou-sama," Sasuke said, looking up at his father sheepishly. "Can I have 20 ryo?" _

_Fugaku stared at his son incredulously and shook his head and left his son with a huge question mark hanging on the top of his head. _

_Without looking at his son, Fugaku replied, "Be a man….do the right thing!" (**A/N: I know! I just had to put that one in!! Classic!**) _

_Sasuke sweat dropped. **Yup, I think Otou-sama have been watching too much Russell Peters on youtube. **_

_After Sasuke left, Mikoto looked at her husband, wiping her hands on her apron. "Was that Sasuke? Where is he going?" _

_Fugaku grinned at his wife. "He is going to be a man." _

_Mikoto's eyes widened and looked at her husband menacingly. Fugaku could feel scorching blazing aura from his wife as her eyes locked to his. "You'd better pray that when my boy comes back with his innocence intact, Uchiha Fugaku. Or else I'll let you taste the fury of a Uchiha female." _

_Fugaku sweat dropped. As he started his prayers. _

-------------------xx------------------------

_Sasuke was walking down the street towards the shop where Hinata had bought her mandarin ducks. Going inside, Sasuke saw the rows of shelves of fragile looking items. _

_"Hello there, boy. What can I do to help you?" A rather ancient looking old man said to Sasuke. _

_"Mandarin ducks." _

_The old man looked surprised at Sasuke. "Mandarin ducks?" _

_"Uhm. Mandarin ducks." _

_"I'm afraid we're out of it, boy. The last one was bought by a young Hyuuga early this morning." _

_Sasuke nodded his head. _

_"How about other things? Swans?" _

_Sasuke shook his head. "Mandarin ducks!" He was more adamant this time. _

_The old man now remembered. This was the young boy who pushed the young Hyuuga girl and dropped her porcelain mandarin ducks. _

_"Come here," the old man said. Sasuke followed. The old man took a small block of wood. He began to carve. _

_"I'm sorry boy, but I'm out of the porcelain mandarin ducks. But, if you could wait for a while, I'll carve out this special one for you, is that alright with you, boy?" _

_Sasuke smiled, and nodded his head as he took a seat opposite the old man, totally intrigue by how he effortlessly carved the small block of wood using only a few sharpened knives. It took him only about 20 minutes to finish the whole thing! _

_Sasuke marveled at the beautiful carving of two ducks linked by their beaks as if they were kissing. When Sasuke noticed that, his face blushed in deep pink. _

_The old man sat there laughed at the blushing boy and said, "What else would you be thinkin' there, boy?" He gave a small knife to Sasuke and said, "Here, mark underneath those duck." _

_"What?" _

_"Mark 'em with your own word. You can write whatever you want and give 'em to your lucky girlfriend." _

_Sasuke frowned. "Tomato Freak is not my girlfriend!" _

_The old man grinned. "Oh, unless you're such a coward that you don't know how to carve using a knife?" Further taunting the young Uchiha. _

_"No, I'm not!" Sasuke replied, snatching the knife away from the old man and began to carve under the ducks. _

_Silently, the old man chuckled. _

_After Sasuke was done, the old man wrapped the ducks in a white wrapping paper. _

_"How much?" Sasuke asked. _

_The old man looked at Sasuke. He had a very good feeling that Sasuke brought all his savings with him. He paused a look and then replied, "Two ryo." _

_"Hn." Sasuke dug into his pocket and took out his coin pouch. He then calculated. **Good! I've got more than enough! Chibi Sasuke looked pleased. **_

_"Thank you," the old man said. _

_Sasuke bowed respectfully at the old man and dashed out of the shop towards the Hyuuga compounds. _

--------------------------xx-----------------------------

_Sasuke was nervous. All the Hyuugas were looking at him. Their pale white eyes seemed to bore through his soul. He gulped nervously. _

**_Buck up, Sasuke! You wouldn't wanna look weak in front of these stuck-ups Hyuugas don't you??_**_ Sasuke said to himself. _

_Sasuke straightened his back and looked across Hiashi as tea was being served to them. _

_Hiashi had his arms crossed across his shoulders, and his sharp eyes did not leave Sasuke at all. _

_"Gomen," Sasuke apologized. Well, at least he felt a part of the burden being lifted up from his small shoulders. _

_"Hn." _

_Sasuke presented a small wrapped package in front of Hiashi. "For her." _

_"Hn." _

_Silence. _

_Sasuke did not move. Neither was Hiashi. _

_Until….. _

**_Knock knock. _**

_"Enter," Hiashi said, picking up his hot steaming cup of jasmine green tea. _

_Enter the room was another young boy about Sasuke's age but he had long brown hair. He looked remarkably like Hinata's father. _

**_I didn't know Tomato Freak has a brother. _**_Sasuke said to himself. _

_As if he knew what Sasuke was thinking, Hiashi said, "Neji, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Neji, Hinata's cousin and my nephew." _

_Hmm….her cousin, huh? Sasuke looked at Neji impassively. He could see Neji returning the favour. _

_"Neji, show him Hinata's room." _

_Sasuke paled. How he wish the earth would swallow him right at that moment. There was no way in hell he would be there giving her a present. _

_"Hai," Neji replied as he left the room with Sasuke trailing behind him. _

_Hiashi sighed. Picking up his cup and sipped his tea. He was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. _

_"They're just too young," Hiashi said to himself. Fearing what all fathers fear for their daughters………………..potential son in-laws. _

_After leaving Hiashi, Sasuke walked behind Neji. His jet black eyes glared behind the long-haired Hyuuga. _

_"It's impolite to glare," Neji said, without turning towards him. _

_Sasuke was taken aback. "Tch." _

_"We're here," Neji said as he started to leave. His pale eyes glared hatefully at Sasuke. Sasuke returned the look as Neji walked away. _

_He's weird. Sasuke said to himself. Then, facing Hinata's door, Sasuke trembled slightly. He knocked the door lightly and pushed open the shouji door. Peeking his head inside, Sasuke slowly pushed it close and walked towards the bed where Hinata was lying. The room was a little dark because of the curtain drawn closer. _

**_She's asleep._**_ Inside, Sasuke prayed for thanksgiving as he wouldn't know what to say if she was awake. Silently, he put the package onto the table beside her bed and left. He didn't want to leave any note or letter or anything. That was enough. _

_But before he left, he took one last look on his sleeping rival. She looked so pale. _

_"Wa…water," she croaked softly. _

_"Huh?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows. He looked around. **Hide!** Was the only thing in his mind right now. As he was contemplating of hiding under her bed or in her closet, Hinata did not seemed to be conscious. _

**_Sasuke, you're stupid._**_ He smacked his own forehead. **She's just delirious from her fever! Baka! **Sasuke shook his own head, couldn't believe in his own stupidity. _

_Sasuke went to the bedside and poured some water into a glass and held it out to Hinata's lips. _

_Sasuke gulped. _

_She drank slowly. Her eyes were still close. Sasuke could feel her body was very warm. After she drank the water, he put the glass back and took the cold compress and put it on her forehead. _

_Sasuke smiled. He liked it when she was quiet. Less noisy. Less irritating. _

_"A…ari…gatou…Itachi-nii," Hinata murmured. _

_Sasuke's eyes widened. And then narrowed into small slits, as he scowled when Hinata mentioned his brother's name. _

_Jealousy hits the rooftop as Sasuke stomped off the room. Pissed off mad. Forgetting all about the mandarin duck lying on Hinata's table. _

**_Aniki…Aniki…Aniki!!! Why it's always him!!_**_ Sasuke clenched his fist and bit his trembling lower lip as he ran out of the Hyuuga compound, not wanting to stay any longer. _

_Unknowingly, Hiashi was observing everything through his All-Seeing Eyes a.k.a. the Byakugan. _

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sasuke sighed.

_What is happening to me? Why am I feeling this way? Why it always hurts here when I think about….her?_ Sasuke asked, clutching his heart. Looking a little lost, Sasuke covered the box and pushed it under his bed. _Yeah, its because she hurt me. She hurt me so bad, I'm gonna make her hurt real bad too…..an eye for an eye….. _

Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist. _And I won't let Aniki win, not this time. I'll get the both of them….. _

**- TBC - **

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**A/N: Yeah, I know all of you would be wondering this weird personality dilemma with Sasuke, well, dun worry, it'll be explained sooner or later as to why he is this way….. **

**NO….Sasuke is NOT developing any 'incestuous' feelings for his brother (**_I'm highlighting this coz I'm lazy to answer questions which I am sure will be poking in your minds when reading this chapter_**)…..I must be insane if I'd do that!! Anyways, its just that Sasuke's very close with his brother initially (remember the first few chappies?? He adored his older brother and thought of him as his hero) until Hinata came into the picture…..you could say, that Sasuke was indeed jealous….**

**Yeah...and the fact that Sasuke does have feelings for Hinata, only that he's in a stage of denial...most guys does that...**

**Oh yeah, the mandarin duck came in the last minute when I realized Sasuke was called Duck Butt!! Hhehehee…and yeah, more mandarin duck moments after this…. **


	8. Some Stupid Camp & Trembling Itachi

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...not in this lifetime...but not sure about the next tho...**

**A/N: I'm glad everyone liked the Duck Butt Vs. Tomato Freak saga...and I'm surprised that some of you realised the irony of 'mandarin duck' in the previous chapter, but don't worry, what Chibi Sasuke-chan wrote underneath the ducks will be revealed...soon...but not in this chappie……**

**Warning: Bad spelling…..bad grammar….I've warned you already, so I dun need anyone to remind me about it….again….and this is the amended version!! Sorry!!**

**And also…..congrats to Julia for being the 100****th**** reviewer for this fic…..and as a surprise gift, this chappie is dedicated to you…..coz Gaara is coming out!! Yeahhhh….**

**Oh Kichou…..you might like this one…..ItaHina fluff…..**

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**Recap:**

_Sasuke sighed._

_**What is happening to me? Why am I feeling this way? Why it always hurts here when I think about….her? **Sasuke asked, clutching his heart. Looking a little lost, Sasuke covered the box and pushed it under his bed. **Yeah, its because she hurt me. She hurt me so bad, I'm gonna make her hurt real bad too…..an eye for an eye….. **_

_Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist. **And I won't let Aniki win, not this time. I'll get the both of them….. **_

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**CHAPTER 7: SOME STUPID CAMP & TREMBLING ITACHI**

The infamous Hinata jacket incident had caused both Hinata and Sasuke a lot.

A hell lot.

It was the Annual Genins Training Camp (**A/N: No, not summer camp. Summer is no where near around that time, still early of the year**) which was held traditionally at the beginning of the Konoha Annual Festival. And that was why none wanted to take up the job as councillors-cum-instructors.

No chuunins and jounins actually volunteered for this (except for Gai) up until Tsunade had to pick names out from a hat!

Those unfortunate ones chosen were:

1) Umino Iruka (sighing)

2) Hatake Kakashi (showing the 'peace' sign)

3) Ebisu (twitched)

4) Maito Gai (beaming)

5) Mitarashi Anko (slapping her palm on her forehead)

6) Inuzuka Hana (rolled her eyes upwards)

7) Izumo (glared at the laughing Kotetsu)

"The Genin Annual Camp will be held in two weeks time with a participation of 87 genins from Konoha and Sand Country," Shizune announced. "So, all teachers selected must get ready your teaching materials in a week for submission...," Shizune kept on rambling with no one paying any attention to her.

_Work...kids...work...kids...I really don't have any social life, do I? _Iruka asked himself.

Kakashi sighed.

_Work! Brats! Camp! Arrgghhh!! _Ebisu was clearly screaming in his mind.

_Aahhhh...the youthful children!! I'm going to show them the SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!! YOSH!! _Gai beamed happily. Everyone gave him a weird look.

_I should've called in sick this morning. Damn! I'll kill Kakashi for dragging me up!!_ Anko glared at the silver-haired jounin. Thinking of a thousand ways to torture Kakashi when they get to the camp and a lot of it has to do with ropes, leather and whips.

Hana just sighed. _I should've applied to be ANBU. Damn Iruka! If only he...damn damn damn him! _Hana pouted her lips in sulking as she glared angrily at the brown-haired chuunin who was looking pretty much fazed-out.

"And...before I conclude, Tsunade-sama have appointed Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke as your assistants at the camp," Shizune added. "By the orders of the Godaime Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi and Mitarashi Anko, the both of you are to be fully in-charge of those two miscreants and will act as _their_ official ward." Then she grinned before adding, "And may Kami bless you!"

Everyone was sporting a grin except for Kakashi and Anko.

_YESSS!!! Time for revenge! _Anko's eyes was blazing with flame.

_I'm doomed. _Kakashi dropped his book.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**Uchiha Manor:**

_I'm dead._ Sasuke buried his face in his hands when Kakashi met him.

"Come on, Sasuke. It can't be that bad." Kakashi looked at his student. _Yeah right..._ Kakashi shudders, in fear of Anko and at the same time, trying to stay positive for Sasuke's sake. When Mitarashi Anko gets her claws in him, he's one dead shinobi. Working with Anko was the last thing he needs. She is one determined crazy young woman who seemed to have this need to get violent with him. He shudders at the thought of Anko and her fiery looking whip definitely sends shivers down his spine.

Sasuke glared angrily at his teacher. "Can I bring my weapons with me?" He looked hopefully. "I mean for self-defence?"

Kakashi sighed. "No Sasuke, and I don't think throwing kunais and shurikens on the heiress isn't going to be of any help. And I'm sure Hyuuga Hiashi does not appreciate you trying to kill his eldest child. It might start off another civil war and I am also very certain your father would not like that very much."

Sasuke glared at him.

"Or your mother."

Sasuke flinched.

Kakashi grinned, knowing well how Sasuke 'feared' his mother more than his father. Everyone in Konoha knows how 'loud' Uchiha Mikoto could be when she gets excited...super duper hyper...Fortunately for Fugaku, their sons took after their father.

"You better do something about this, Sensei," Sasuke glared again. Judging from the 'special treatment' Hinata gave him last week, the bruises have already healed and through Tsunade's healing jutsu, he managed to grow his missing teeth. It was one of the agreements that he had with Tsunade when she agreed to heal his dental problem.

"Nope," Kakashi replied, pulling out his book. "It is something you and Hinata-chan will have to deal with. If the two of you get into any more trouble, the both of you will be expelled and will be denied into any shinobi academy. In _any_ shinobi country."

Sasuke blinked.

And blinked again.

_What the hell is that suppose to mean!? _Sasuke threw the sharpest killer glare he could muster at his silver-haired teacher, who obviously was ignoring him while concentrating on his orange-coloured book and giggled perversely.

Sasuke sweat dropped.

Finally unable to contain his frustration any longer, Sasuke screamed and started to vent all his anger on a poor tree…….with a kunai. Stabbing the tree as if it was a criminal nin and yelling out his frustration.

Kakashi blinked. Throughout all his life he had known Sasuke, he came to view his student as someone silent, stoic, cool and reserved………up until now. He wondered what have changed the young Uchiha tremendously.

When he heard Sasuke yelling 'stupid', 'tomato', 'dumb', 'freakish' and 'tomboy' in some of his student's colourful vocabulary, it finally dawned onto him. Chuckling, he said to himself, "Well, well, well…..I'd say somebody has finally met his match."

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**Hyuuga Complex:**

"Is...Is...the...there any...other...op...option??" Hinata paled. Feeling every drop of blood has fled from her body, Hinata felt hopeless.

"Nope! And I expect the both of you to behave while at camp and listen to instructions," Anko said, picking up her tea and drank it. _Hmmm...Hinata-chan makes wonderful tea. Hehehe...now, I probably could get her to make for me while at camp! Hihihi...I think it's going to be fun! _Anko said to herself, savouring the aroma of Hinata's special green tea.

"Why me??" Hinata sighed. _Why Duck Butt?? Why __**him**__ Kami-sama?? I'm so sick and tired of him...seeing him makes me so...so...wan…wanna…..urrgghhhhh!!!_

Hinata slammed her fist onto the tatami floor and beating it as if it was alive.

"Yup, there you go girl! Let it all out! No use of keeping it in yourself," Anko said, pitying the young Hyuuga heiress. Then, thought of something. "Hinata-chan."

Hinata raised her angry face to meet her sensei.

"Why do you and…uhmm….Sasuke-kun fight all the time?"

Hinata was taken aback. Nobody has ever asked that question to her. Hinata sat down again, drawing her knees up under her chin.

"A…ano….I…I…don't…know."

It was Anko's turn to look surprised as she listened to Hinata's inconsistent rambling.

"We…we've been….fighting. Si…since…kindy and….and….I don't know….why he….he….always stole my….my ribbons," Hinata said in her soft voice. "He was so…so….mean!!" Tears started to stream down her cheeks.

Hinata continued. "The first time we…we…met, he already….hates….me."

_Hates her??_ Anko looked surprised. _Well, that doesn't really make any sense. If Sasuke-kun really hates her, she'd be dead by now….unless….._

Anko's dark eyes widened when she saw the young Hyuuga heiress and concentrated her mind on Sasuke.

"What if you think he hates you, but he actually….doesn't?"

"Huh?" Hinata looked up at her sensei, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Anko nodded and winked at the young Hyuuga girl. "Yeah, what I mean is that, probably he was being shy, that's all."

"_Shy_?? _Duck Butt_?? You've gotta be kidding, Anko-sensei!" Hinata exclaimed. "The only time Duck Butt gets anywhere near shy was when he's one dead duck!!"

_Okay, Anko…..I don't think approaching the topic Sasuke is good right now. It would've appeared as a sensitive issue to her at this moment. _Anko thought to herself, looking at the utterly frustrated Hyuuga heiress.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The first week went through pretty fast for both duckling and tomato as Konoha Academy had not experienced that much of peaceful moments since Naruto was adopted by Tsunade.

There were no more fights, no more trading insults, no more food fights at the cafeteria and a over 90 percent decrease of accidents and bodily injuries. Even the infirmary has sufficient medical stock that they don't have to replenish it on daily basis.

However, the silent cold icy glares were the only ones that never cease.

Another week passed through…..peacefully. Birds were chirping, bees were humming and butterflies were flying. Although it may seem peaceful for the whole of Konoha Academy, but it was none too peaceful for Hinata and Sasuke. Inside, they were just waiting to release all that tension (**A/N: I'm referring to their little squabbles here and nothing perverted at all!!**) that was bottling inside.

The tension between the two young shinobis went so thick that Kakashi and Anko felt compelled to do something about it before it goes out of hand.

"Kakashi, you'd better do something about this," Anko looked at him, threatening him with her kunai.

Kakashi sweat dropped. Working with Mitarashi Anko was never easy. That was why he quit from the ANBU when she first came aboard into his team.

"Uhh….why should I?"

"Because, Sasuke has this certain tendency of annoying my charge, and you can't deny that as well since it was always Sasuke who initiated the fights."

_Well, I know I can't argue that._ Kakashi thought to himself. "Very well, I'll see what I can do. I'll just ask Iruka."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "Iruka-kun?"

Kakashi nodded his head. _I hope this better work._

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_Damn! Damn! Damn!_ Hinata was pushing herself. Throwing all her kunais with precision. Wide-eyed, Hinata was amazed. _Why is that I always perform my best when I am angry??_

She stood there thinking for a long time, unaware that somebody stood still behind her and covered her eyes and whispered gently into the shell of her ears, "Guess who?"

Hinata smiled shyly and pretended not to know who was it by shaking her head.

"You naughty girl," he murmured, removing his hand from her eyes and proceeded to tickle her.

Hinata was ticklish and therefore was not prepared for his assault.

"Ita-nii!!" Hinata was yelling as she fell onto the ground and Itachi was on top of her.

He stopped tickling her and pressed his forehead against hers. His obsidian black eyes looked deep into her pale lavender tinted ones as she panted for breath.

_Just like Duck Butt's eyes….Heeehhhhhh??? _Hinata froze again. Resisting the urge to slap her forehead hard, Hinata bit her lower lip. She couldn't believe why her thoughts wavered towards her arch-nemesis. She knows she hated him, but her thoughts kept on wandering back to him.

Itachi noticed Hinata in deep thought, pulled her up and sat her opposite him. "What is the matter, Hina-chan?"

_Should I tell him?_ Hinata asked herself. Feeling slightly guilty by thinking about Sasuke when she was in the company of Itachi. She felt almost……as if she was……betraying Itachi.

"Ne, Hina-chan? What happened within the ten days I was away?" Itachi had a bad feeling something _had _happened while he was away from his mission. Since the time Hinata and Sasuke fought in school, Itachi was more worried for the young Hyuuga heiress.

_Otouto had better not do anything stupid while I was away….._ Itachi was deep in thought when Hinata's voice rang clear across him.

"A…ano….Ita...Ita…chi-nii?"

"Hai?"

"Duck Butt (sigh) and…I have just….received our….pun…punishment fro….from…Ho…Hoka…ge-sama."

Itachi's eyes narrowed. He knew it doesn't sound good when Hinata is stuttering.

_Might as well I tell him the whole thing._ Hinata said to herself when she noticed Itachi narrowed his eyes on her.

"Tsunade-sama made….us go…through the….the….genin camp to…tomorrow."

Itachi's eyes darkened.

"And she wants us….to….to….to….bo…bond." Hinata almost squeaked at the last word.

Itachi activated his Sharingan.

Hinata looked up at him. Her eyes widened in fear, noticing Itachi was deep in his thought. Then, she did what she had to…..

She cupped his face in her hands and pulled his face closed to hers. "Don't worry, Itachi-kun! I'll make sure I'll get to kick his duck ass all the way to Sunagakure." She smiled sweetly at him.

Itachi didn't know whether he wanted to smile or not, but he did. Hinata was just too adorable to resist. Her large pale eyes were always so gentle and kind which Itachi finds himself at loss when it comes to her.

"Hi…Hina-chan?"

"Hai…Ita-nii?"

"Promise me one thing?"

"Hai!"

Itachi looked at her seriously as he pulled her into a hug. "Do not fall in love…..with….Sasuke."

"Na…na…nani?!" Hinata almost felt like fainting when she felt Itachi pulled her tighter into his embrace.

"Promise me, Hina-chan?"

"Itachi-kun…" Hinata felt slightly bewildered at his behaviour. "You know I would not do anything…..that….stupid?" She replied.

"Things can happen, Hina-chan and I don't want…..to…..lose….you."

Hinata felt her heart beating hard against her ribcage and if Itachi pulled her anymore tighter, she'd swore that if he'd pull her any tighter than it is, she could feel her heart beating rapidly. Hinata blushed at the thought and instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hina-chan."

"Hai Itachi-nii?" Hinata smiled, looking up at him shyly.

He put a hand in his pocket, fiddling a small box inside. _Itachi…..it is now or never, _saying to himself. Taking out a small box before him, he looked at Hinata's large eyes. He put the box on the palm of his left hand and opened it with his right hand.

"Ita…" She gasped as Itachi laid a finger onto her lips. His fingers were cold.

He smirked when he saw how Hinata had gasped what was inside the box.

It was a ring. A circular diamond embedded platinum ring. An eternity ring.

Hinata's eyes widened.

"We've been friends for a very long time, Hina-chan, and I want you to know that for all those years, I….I….have….fallen in…love with….you," Itachi gulped. He has never sweated this much before in life. He had practiced this many times before, and every time was like a first time.

He looked at her, with the ring still in his hand. "I know this is too early and marriage is still…..far away, but I think this…is the right…time for me to…say this, Hinata-chan," he looked at her seriously. "I don't want to…share you with anyone…..else, so, if you don't mind," Itachi took another deep breath. "Will you be my….girlfriend?"

Itachi have never trembled in his entire life.

No.

Uchiha Itachi has never trembled.

Uchiha Itachi has never had his knees buckled together.

Uchiha Itachi has never…….fallen in love…..before.

But the petite girl standing before him has managed a feat which nobody in the whole of Konoha has ever done before……making Itachi trembled nervously. It was a classic case of David versus Goliath. Only this time, in place of David was the young shy Hyuuga heiress. Towering over her was the enigmatic Uchiha heir as Goliath.

Hinata was shocked beyond her lifetime. She had known Itachi since she was five years old and she had grown very fond of the Uchiha heir. Maybe 'grown fond of' was a gross understatement, more or less 'glorifying' and 'idolizing' the young Uchiha heir was more like it. With all the courage she could muster, Hinata looked up slowly at Itachi and saw his eyes softened.

She gasped and quickly looked down. Remembering her old grandmother used to say to her.

---------------------------------xxx------------------------------

**Flashback: Hinata & Sasuke aged 8**

_Chibi Hinata was plucking squatting in her late mother's garden, picking some flowers when her grandmother sat on the wooden steps, beckoning her beloved grand-daughter._

"_Hinata-chan," the kindly old woman said. Lines of time clearly evident on her pale skin as she looked lovingly at her eldest grand-daughter who was running towards her, carrying some flowers in her arms._

"_Obaa-chan!!" Chibi Hinata came running towards her in her yellow thin summer kimono with red obi tied at her small waist. Her small legs was moving as fast as she can towards her grandmother. _

"_Ne, Hinata-chan…..what are you doing?"_

"_I'm picking flowers for you Baa-chan," Chibi Hinata looked adoringly at her grandmother, her chubby cheeks were red from the run and she was slightly panting for her breath. Presenting her grandmother with a small bunch of exotic mixed of flowers._

"_Whatever for, Hinata-chan?" She took the flowers from her grand-daughter._

"_Ne Baa-chan, today at school we learned about 'Mother's Day'," Hinata looked sad. And knowing Hinata, she would always had tears in her eyes when she remembered her late mother. Hyuuga Okibi touched her grand-daughter's head and caresses the short soft locks, understanding Hinata's sadness. Karura was a very good and filial daughter in-law whom she was pleased when her eldest son, Hiashi chose to marry her. _

_Looking back at her grand-daughter, Okibi nodded her head in understanding, that Hinata possessed her mother's quality and was pleased in her eldest grand-daughter._

"_Are you sad that your Okaa-san isn't around, Hinata-chan?"_

_Sniffing into the folds of her sleeve, Hinata looked and nodded her head. "Bu…bu..but it's okay, Obaa-chan," Hinata smiled. "I have you, an…and….Baa-chan ma…makes me…feel_ _li…like….I have Kaa-chan….again!"_

_Okibi could not help but let hot tears drop down her withered cheek. None of her sons have ever done anything remotely to what Hinata have done – showing affection. Except her daughter in-laws, Karura (Hiashi's wife) and Gekani (Hizashi's wife) who celebrated those special days with her, but they were both gone as well. _

"_I'm happy, Hinata-chan."_

"_Yo…you…do?"_

"_Hai," Okibi replied, holding the flowers in her lap._

"_Obaa-chan?" Hinata suddenly asked, twirling her fingers nervously._

"_Hai, Hinata-chan?"_

"_Uhmm….can I ask a question?"_

"_Hmm…if I can answer them, I shall."_

_All of a sudden, Hinata looked shy and her eyes downcast as her fingers were busy fiddling against one another._

"_Ho…how…do…do…do we…know if….if…..some..body….likes….you?"_

_Okibi chuckled. __**Aaahhhh…..it's one of those questions.**__ Okibi was surprised that Hinata asked such a question when she was only eight years old. Quite young, but she wasn't surprised since all shinobis grows up faster than their age. Besides, Okibi had never had any daughters after the birth of her sons, the birthing took a toll on her health and ability to have more children. All children she had after Hiashi and Hizashi all died young or she had miscarriage, so Okibi was denied the luxury of ever having a daughter to pamper and lavish upon. _

_Hinata was trembling nervously when she heard her grandmother chuckling at her and she blushed even redder than before._

"_Well, Hinata-chan," her grandmother peered at her favourite grandchild. "May I know why you ask this…..question?" Okibi was testing her grand-daughter._

"_Uhmm….." Hinata was now twisting the folds of her sleeves as her face was bright red in embarrassment. Okibi knew that look. That was the look that Karura used to have whenever she or Hiashi teased her mercilessly, and apparently, Hinata inherit the shyness from her mother._

_Hinata bit her lower lip and said, "The…there's…th…this…boy."_

_Okibi smiled, listening to her eight year-old grand-daughter struggling to tell her about this boy._

"_He…he….well…he…he…."_

"_Likes you?"_

_Hinata reddened and exclaimed. "No!!" Then her eyes went downcast again. "I'm not….sure."_

"_Do…you like him, Hinata-chan?"_

_Hinata nodded her head._

"_Does he make you feel…..happy?"_

_Hinata nodded her head again._

"_Mah….mah….Hinata-chan," Okibi looked pleased. For quite some time now, Okibi had noticed the frequency of a certain young boy from the Uchiha clan coming over the Hyuuga compound lately and smiled at the prospect of solidifying their relationship with their distant relatives._

_Hinata fixed her eyes on her grandmother. Listening to her comforting words and soft voice who constantly keep her content and happy. "To know if someone truly loves you, you can see it in their eyes."_

"_Why is that, Baa-chan?" Hinata scooted closer._

"_Because the eyes never lie, Hinata-chan."_

"_Eyes never lie?"_

"_Hai," Obiki nodded her head. "You can see he say the truth because his eyes will soften and will look at you, making you feel weak….."_

"_Weak?"_

"_And at the same time…."_

"_Same time…."_

"_Make you the queen of his heart."_

"_Queen of his….heart?"_

"_Hai, Hinata-chan."_

"_So," Hinata pursed a finger on her lips and smiled. "Is that how you come to marry Ojii-chan? He made you queen of his….heart?" Hinata wondered because she knew her grandfather was just like her father. Cold, stoic and impassive. Typical traits of Hyuuga men. They lacked….warmth. Hinata wondered how her soft spoken and gentle her grandmother could make her grandfather…..soft? She noticed her cousin, Neji was starting to pick up those_

_Obiki chuckled again. "Not really, Hinata-chan."_

"_Why is that, Baa-chan?"_

"_Well, it is a long story."_

"_Maybe you can tell me tonight! When you tuck me in!" Hinata looked brightly happy._

"_Hai, hai," Obiki said and then remembered something. _

"_Is it…..Itachi-kun?" Obiki whispered slowly and then chuckled, seeing her grand-daughter burning in embarrassment._

"_Aahh….I knew it," Obiki replied._

"_You…you….know it, Baa-chan?"_

"_Hai, Hinata-chan," her grandmother nodded her head. "All the while, I thought you might like the other Uchiha."_

"_Heh?"_

"_Uchiha Sasuke."_

_Hinata's eyes widened and then she scowled deeply. "OBAA-CHAN!!"_

_Obiki chuckled again, putting a hand over her lips, enjoying her grand-daughter's reaction towards the other Uchiha who had aggravated her shy Hinata. She also knew about their childhood rivalry when Hinata came back home after her first day at the kindy and lamented to her about this arrogant boy with a head of a duck's butt._

_Obiki looked at her grand-daughter rambling about the offensive boy until Hinata ran out of words to describe her public enemy number one…..Duck Butt._

_Hinata pouted. Feeling extremely irritated with her arch-nemesis who again this morning, stole one of her favourite ribbons, causing the poor girl to cry._

"_Why Hinata-chan…..don't you like him as well?"_

_Hinata glared at her grandmother and pouts her chubby lips. Forcing her grandmother to pinch her cheeks and cooed, "Hinata-chan's so kawaii if she pouts!"_

"_Baa-chan!!" Hinata cried out, cupping her bruised cheeks and rubbed them. Hating the very thought that she will ever like that stinking Duck Butt...the ribbon thief!_

"_Obiki-sama, Hinata-sama." One of the Hyuuga maids came and bowed before them._

"_What is it, Tsubame?" Obiki asked._

"_There's a Uchiha Itachi-san outside seeking audience for Hinata-sama," Tsubame said, bowing her head again._

"_Arigatou Tsubame, you're dismissed." Obiki said as Tsubame walked backwards and turned around, walking back towards the Main House. Obiki looked at Hinata who suddenly was smiling shyly. "Now Hinata-chan, your boyfriend is here."_

"_Baa-chan!" _

_Her grandmother chuckled._

----------------------------------------------xxx------------------------------------------

The memory of her grandmother was one of the best times she has ever had in the Hyuuga household, until her demise. Remembering the words her grandmother spoke about.

_The eyes never lie…._ Hinata placed a hand on her lips. Nervously, she slowly touched his left brow with her fingers and with her trembling cold fingers, outlines the side of his head. She noticed how long his eye lashes were and how masculine his features were.

Was it love she felt for him throughout all the years? Its true that Itachi had always been with her through thick and thin, through sick and sin…..he was always there for her.

He was her anchor.

He was her strength.

He was her hope.

Hinata had tears in her eyes and all this was too much for her. She looked back into his dark eyes, she did what she hadn't been doing for a long time.

She fainted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**The Campsite:**

"What a beautiful wonderful morning!!" Gai exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. Clad in an unusual sleeveless and short green spandex that almost resembled a wrestler's outfit. Everyone thought it looked ridiculous, except for Lee. Yeah, Lee was there. He volunteered to assist his favourite teacher and mentor. And yeah, he's wearing the same thing as Gai...

"This is stupid...," a bored looking blond in orange t-shirt and track pants muttered. "I dunno why that old hag sent me here in the first place."

Nobody realized it, but Iruka sweat dropped quietly at the background.

"Naruto-kun! We must serve to protect the innocence of these youthful children of our future!" Lee exclaimed. "It is our civic duty to the society!"

Everyone else sweat dropped.

"Lee! You make me proud!" Gai said, tears streaming down his tanned cheeks.

Everyone sweat dropped. Again.

"Gai-sensei! You have thought me the power of YOUTH! And I will never ever forget that precious lesson, Sensei!" Lee exclaimed.

"OH LEE!!"

"GAI-SENSEI!!"

"LEE!!!"

"GAI-SENSEI!!!"

Then, they both hugged each other.

Everyone twitched and sweat dropped.

The Suna representatives…..the kids…..

The rabbits behind the long grass.

The gophers behind the boulders.

The bear behind the tree.

And the crickets chirped through the dreaded silence of the camp site.

Sasuke glared at the green spandex clad jounin and was planning a hundred of ways of getting that stupid grin out from his face.

Hinata was twitching when Anko noticed her. Quickly she covered Hinata's innocent eyes further corruption.

_That...that's...so...so...distur...bing...I wonder...ho...how...Neji-nii co…could...han...handle...a..all….of….tha...that??_ Hinata said to herself, wondering how her stoically calm cousin had a weird loud green spandex clad jounin for a sensei and a mini version of the jounin for a team-mate.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think you'd also have to protect me from that...that...thing," Sasuke muttered darkly. Finally giving some thought on which weapon best suited to use against Gai.

"Try something else, Sasuke. You're not the only one who has that planned out," Kakashi said, as if he could read what was on Sasuke's mind.

"Tch."

"Hurry up Duck Butt, we can't afford to be late after what we have to go through after this," Hinata said, pushing her bag against Sasuke who was blocking the exit.

"Tch," Sasuke glared at her.

"Now, now Sasuke. Its impolite to stare at young ladies. Especially if they're as cute as Hinata-chan here," Kakashi teased as Hinata blushed and hurried up with her bags.

"Ka...ka...shi...," Anko glared menacingly at Kakashi while pulling up her sleeves.

Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Oops...err….I gotta go and see the...uhh...campsite," Kakashi teleported himself away when he could feel Anko's wrath getting the better of him.

"Well, it seems that everyone is here," Iruka looked rather cheerful, holding his notepad and a pen, happily ticking off the names of the children. "Alright, I have the list of jounins and chuunins in-charge, so I have divided them accordingly."

"Ohayo! You must be Iruka-san?" a tall sandy-haired woman with a sand hitai-ate on her forehead said to Iruka.

"Ohayo," Iruka smiled sweetly and bowed slightly at the attractive woman before him as they begin their conversation. Iruka didn't know why, but he felt his heart had just stopped for several minutes at the attractive Suna woman.

"I am Shuuna Rhai, Head Instructor of Suna's Shinobi Academy," Rhai said, extending her hand towards Iruka.

Iruka blushed slightly at the powerful feminine form before him. Golden tan skin with large green eyes, Shuuna Rhai was definitely an exotic looking woman. Iruka blushed again as he noticed himself noticing her.

Despite her strong physique and powerful presence, Shuuna Rhai was a little shy when she took Iruka's hand and shook it.

"Shuuna-san, I'm pleased that Suna is willing to participate in this year's training camp," Iruka said.

"Arigatou for inviting us," Rhai thanked as she bowed her head slightly. "The Suna Council was elated that Konoha is willing to have us here."

Iruka smiled and replied, "It is good to make peace for once. We have always hope for global peace between the Five Shinobi Countries and I am happy that Suna is willing to share that vision with us. What better way than to start off with the children?"

Rhai looked very pleased and smiled shyly at the Chuunin instructor. "That is very….visionary of you….Iruka-san. Not many men see things the way you do."

Iruka was blushing shyly at Rhai's response.

"What. Is. He. Doing!?" Hana looked at them from afar. Her eyes burning with jealousy. _How dare that woman flirts with Iruka-senpai! And how dare he lets her flirt with him!_ Hana was obviously fuming with rage.

"Are you jealous, Hana-_chan_?" Anko asked.

Hana looked at her and then blushed slightly. "Oh…errr…nothing…I'll go and check on the…the….food." Hana left quickly before Anko could add more to her embarrassment.

"That must be Shuuna-san," Ebisu said. "She represents Suna." _And boy is she gorgeous!_ Ebisu's perverted mind said. Behind his dark shades, he was definitely checking the beautiful Suna head of representative.

**SMACK!!**

"Keep your eyes where it is, you closet pervert!" Anko smashed her elbows onto Ebisu's head.

"HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!! Closet-pervert Ebisu has it!" Naruto was laughing out loud while clutching his stomach.

**TWISTS…**

"Itai! Itai! Itai!!" Naruto yelled in pain as Sakura twisted his cheeks. "Mou…Sakura-chan!"

"Shut up Naruto-baka!!" Sakura's voice screamed right into his ears as Naruto held his head from further bruising.

"SASUKE-_KUUUUUN_!!" Sakura's loud and penetrating voice hit a high pitch as Sasuke groaned in frustration. Ignoring Sakura, Sasuke leaned against one of the tree as she latched herself on his arms.

"Oi Teme!!" Naruto waved at him and joined them.

"What are you doing here, dobe?"

"Erm….well, it was that old hag's idea. Saying that it might be a good experience for me and stuff, ne Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned at Sakura.

"Of course! You're just too childish and immature, Naruto. That is why Sasuke-kun is different from you!" Sakura retorted, still not letting Sasuke's arms go.

"Then why _are_ you here?" Sasuke glared at the pink haired girl who parasited herself onto his arms.

"I volunteered! I know that you might need help and stuff and I…."

"Great! Now, not only I got Tomato Freak, but I'm having Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dobe, the Wonder Dummies," Sasuke muttered darkly as he pulled off Sakura's arms away from him.

"Sasuke-teme! What the hell you mean by that!!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke who was walking away from them.

"Naruto-baka!!" Sakura twitched and showed her fist at Naruto.

From afar, Hinata could see them arguing and giggled. Naruto and Sakura looked remarkably cute together with all their arguing and bickering.

_Sort of like me and Duck Butt…._ Hinata gasped and then froze in horror. _Duck Butt and I are __**not**__ the same as Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan! Naruto-kun likes Sakura-chan. Duck Butt and I are no where close there! I know we argue a lot and stuff but…. _Hinata frowned. _We sure as hell DON'T look cute together!_ Hinata shivers, thinking about her and Sasuke as a couple, gave her chills under her skin.

"Ne Hinata-chan, let us go and socialize with the Suna genins? They might need some encouragement since this might be their first time to Konoha," Anko said.

"Hai….Anko-sensei."

The two representatives then introduced their working team before they start with the induction ceremony. Iruka was the head representative of Konoha genins while Rhai represents Sunas'. Then followed by the jounins all the way down to the assistants.

"And these are our assistants who will be assisting us," Iruka said as he introduced the senior genins to the Suna. "Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

The four of them bowed together.

"We have…err…our…assistants….as well," Rhai looked a bit apprehensive.

"I am Sabaku Temari," a young blond woman with four pigtails on her hair bowed before them. "And these two are my otoutos…..Kankurou and Gaara."

Everyone looked at the other two Suna nins.

One was dressed in dark outfit with two pointed cat ear-likes and his face had strange purple face paint painted across. "I'm Kankurou." He looked rigid and serious.

"Why you're wearing make-up, Kankurou-san?" Naruto asked.

Everyone noticed how Kankurou twitched. They were also thinking about the same thing.

"It's kabuki paint…..baka."

"So, you're a kabuki actor?" Naruto paused. "Mou…..kabuki actors don't wear what you wear, ne? So, you're acting in Suna?"

Temari could not contain her laughter, she fell back and laughed out loud. Followed by the rest of the Suna reps.

"Baka! It's just kabuki paint!" Kankurou was irritated. He felt an urge to kill the blond loud mouth nin from Konoha.

Then, they all looked at the other Sabaku sibling. If Kankurou was rigid and serious, Gaara was way beyond that line. Kakashi kept a close eye on the red-haired boy. He knew something was different about Gaara, and gave a look at Anko who nodded slightly at him.

Hinata observed him and sighed loudly. Knowing well that Gaara's personality and character seemed familiarly similar to that of her father and cousin. It was the icy cold exterior and the stoic impassive demeanor which she is accustomed to.

Everyone suddenly looked at her.

"Huh?" Hinata wondered, turning her head around and was blushing scarlet red.

"He's staring at you," Anko whispered to her.

"Heh??" Hinata muttered, turning her head and looked at Gaara.

His hair was blood red and spiky. Around his eyes were black lines which reminded her of panda bears. And his eyes…..it was not green, neither it was blue……yes, aquamarine. A beautiful blend of both colours.

"Very pretty," Hinata murmured, and then looked very embarrassed when everyone could hear what she said.

His hands were folded across his chest and he was still staring at her.

"Gaara-sama," Rhai said nervously.

Temari hissed at her brother, "Its not nice to stare at people."

"Hn." Was his reply.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle.

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "Why did you sigh when you looked at me?"

Everyone in the room turned their gaze towards the pale-eyed kunoichi.

Hinata began to tremble and started to poke her fingers together. "A…a…ano…"

"She's a weirdo, turning red like a tomato. What a freak," a sarcastic reply came from the other side of the room. Sasuke sneered at her.

"What's your problem, Duck Butt?" Hinata demanded. All her shyness and gentle exterior were entirely replaced by the one resembled a mad harpy.

Sasuke sneered, "Why?? Going all shy and sweet in front of Gaara?"

"If I wanted to, what is it to you, Duck Butt??"

"First my Nii-san, and now Gaara?? You sure know how to 'play along' Tomato Freak."

Hinata glared angrily at Sasuke as her fist hardened. Wanting so badly to beat him up, but the last statement was the final straw. As she prepared to lunged at Sasuke, Anko gripped her tightly in her hands while Kakashi had to hold onto Sasuke back so that those two won't clash. However, it did not stop both Duck and Tomato continuously insulting one another despite that they were acting childishly before their invited guests.

"Ahh…gomen-ne Rhai-san," Iruka apologised. "I'm sorry you have to see this. That's the Hyuuga heiress and Uchiha spare as you see, their…err….relationship is not…err….as good as their..err…..seniors."

Rhai sweat dropped. "It's alright, Iruka-san. I understand, they are just children."

Iruka looked away shyly, and so was Rhai. But the quarrel between Hinata and Sasuke drew an interesting conclusion…...Gaara smirked.

Temari held on to Kankurou. "Did you see what I see??"

Kankurou nodded his head. "Gaara…..he….smiled?"

"It's a miracle," Temari breathed. "If I were to report this to Baki-sensei, he won't believe me."

"Hell yeah! If you report this to Otou-sama, I think he'd might commit you to the institution."

Temari nodded her head as she looked at her youngest brother.

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**That evening:**

"I can't believe why _I _have to share _this_ tent with _you_!" Hinata practically dumped her bag in front of the medium sized tent at the other end of the camp. "And this is all your fault!" She pointed angrily at him.

"My fault??" Sasuke muttered darkly, throwing his bag into the tent. "If it wasn't for Anko-sensei, you would've commit a heinous crime!"

"And what that may be, I ask?" Hinata replied sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips.

Sasuke smirked. "My handsome good looks will be at jeopardy."

Hinata rolled her eyes upwards and cackled in disgust.

"You make me sick Duck Butt," Hinata scolded. "Besides, Itachi-kun is much better looking than you'll ever be."

Sasuke's face contorted angrily.

"Mah…mah….children," Kakashi said happily as he entered their camp site.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke demanded.

"Anko think it's wise to check up on the two of you," Kakashi said, gripping his orange coloured book under his arms. "Before we find any dead bodies tomorrow morning."

"Kakashi-sensei," Hinata began, looking very cross. "You know the repercussions of putting Duck Butt and me in the same situation within one meter radius would do?"

"Yeah! How come we don't get a cabin? _Everyone_ on this camp gets a cabin! Even dobe and that pink freak of his girlfriend has one!" Sasuke yelled.

"Temper….temper….Sasuke," Kakashi grinned at his young student, noting that Sasuke gets more vocal whenever Hinata was around.

"You'd better do something Kakashi," Sasuke glared angrily at his teacher. His dark eyes began to swirl into his Sharingan.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't you trust us enough? I promise you that we won't get into any fights if you'd just let us get into a cabin?" Hinata said in her soft voice.

"Its not that I don't trust you, Hinata-chan, but you know how bad tempered Sasuke is, don't you?"

Both kids looked at him.

Kakashi grinned and said, "Why Sasuke, it's not that I don't trust you at all…..only that I don't trust you _enough_."

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked politely.

"Well, Anko, Iruka and I have decided that," Kakashi looked at Sasuke. "If we find you both causing more trouble, Sasuke……you're going to share your tent with Sakura."

Sasuke froze. His eyes widened in fear and felt his heart have stopped beating. _That pink-haired disaster is going to be the death of me……_

Hinata grinned at Sasuke, loving the look of horror on Sasuke's face.

"And Hinata……we will report to your father about your behaviour and have you demoted."

It was Hinata's turn to froze and eyes widened. _I know I'm going to die young….._

It was Sasuke's turn to smirk.

"You as well Sasuke," Kakashi added when he saw his student smirking at the ashen-faced Hyuuga.

Sasuke scowled. _I'll never be able to beat Nii-san after this! I'll be so humiliated! Tou-san is going to be very angry! No! No! No! I can't let this happen!_

Then, the two of them looked at one another. Gulping nervously, they looked at the tent again. For once, the tent looked like their gateway………….to salvation.

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"How did it go?"

"Perfect." He smiled. "I think they have a better grasp in understanding the meaning of 'cooperation' from now on."

"Hmmm…..you really had to bring out the full artillery didn't you?"

"Well, not really…..you can say that I'm putting up my arsenal……for the time being, of course."

"Are you sure it is going to work?"

"I'm positive, if not, I do have a back-up plan to get them together," he paused. "Sasuke isn't that young or old. He's young enough for his raging hormones to react and he is old enough to know that his hormones are raging madly."

She laughed out loud.

"I am beginning to think that the great Hatake Kakashi is more than just a prodigy and a genius," she smirked at him. "More like the best matchmaker I've ever met." She looked at him. "I think you'll make Mikoto one happy mother in-law."

Kakashi frowned deeply, taking a seat on the sofa by the wall, he sighed, "I only hope it's worth it." Looking back at her, he asked, "By the way, why are you here for, Kurenai?"

"Well, Tsunade-sama wanted me to make sure you and Anko looked after those two. She's just worried, that's all," Kurenai smiled.

Kakashi sighed. "A rank mission sounds more tempting than babysitting."

Kurenai grinned. "I'm sure you'll make a wonderful father, Kakashi, but I'm not sure how Anko would respond to that."

Kakashi trembled slightly and muttered, "That woman is suffering from ADD(**1**)!"

Kurenai grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Of course, she lacked your attention Kakashi. I suggest you give her some."

Kakashi paled.

He knew that Anko is out to get him, and no matter what, if she had her chance, she'll definitely sink her claws into him……deep.

While Kurenai laughed.

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**Outside at the campsite:**

"How the hell are we going to share this?!" he demanded at her, pointing angrily at the erected tent before them. In their opinion, it was too small for them.

"I don't care, Duck Butt, and I'm not going to suffer just because you can't keep your ass in line!"

Sasuke glared at her. "You better watch what you're saying, Tomato Freak. I'm stronger than you are."

"Oh is that so?" she put her hands on her hips. "Then how come I knocked you out in the last round?"

"You didn't knock me out!"

"Yes I did! You had two black eyes and lost a front tooth! Hah!!"

Sasuke was losing his patience. This irritating Hyuuga was getting on his nerves.

"Whatever it is Tomato Freak, I am NOT sharing a tent with you! You can stay outside of the tent!"

Hinata swung her head at him and glared in equal malice. "Shut it, Duck Butt. Whether you like it or not, we are still sharing this….this…..tent! And if you don't like it so much, you can just STAY OUTSIDE!" She stomped off into the tent and threw out Sasuke's belongings.

_Why does she have to be so….so……urrgghhh!!! I HATE GIRLS!!_ Sasuke was twitching like crazy. Once he regained his thoughts, he stomped into the tent to confront his mortal enemy. Intending to give her a piece of his mind.

"Tomato Freak!!" Sasuke yelled, pushing himself into the tent as Hinata turned around and faced him. Smacking her face right into his as their lips collided against one another…….

**- TBC -**

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**(1) Attention Deficit Disorder**

**A/N: Thanx to all who kindly reviewed…..anyways, I know by now, Sasuke would have a harder time to get Hinata since well….you know….Itachi…..and yeah, from now on, its going to be pretty angsty….**

**Gaara will only be around for a while, and he won't be a permanent…..(laughs) yeah, I like to see Sasuke's reaction especially around Gaara since he and Gaara shared like the same icy, stoic manner that get all us fangirls (and boys….yeah Yomi-sama27!) absolutely crazy!!**

**So, watch out for the next chappie and yeah, it's going to be a while for me to update, but I promise, the waiting time is worth it!**

**Kaguya-kiut out!**


	9. All Because of a Kiss Part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto……**

**A/N: Sorry it took a long time to update…..I've been busy lately…..with my convocation, work and an external paper to take….(sigh) I even find it miraculous that I can get this done….but actually, a load of it came from a gigantic writer's block I've ever had….and sorry for the delay, hoped you guys liked this chappie…..although its….pretty short….**

**Warning: Bad grammar, bad language…..and a stronger Hinata whenever Sasuke is around….**

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**Recap:**

_Sasuke was losing his patience. This irritating Hyuuga was getting on his nerves._

"_Whatever it is Tomato Freak, I am NOT sharing a tent with you! You can stay outside of the tent!"_

_Hinata swung her head at him and glared in equal malice. "Shut it, Duck Butt. Whether you like it or not, we are still sharing this….this…..tent! And if you don't like it so much, you can just STAY OUTSIDE!" She stomped off into the tent and threw out Sasuke's belongings._

_**Why does she have to be so….so……urrgghhh!!! I HATE GIRLS!!**__ Sasuke was twitching like crazy. Once he regained his thoughts, he stomped into the tent to confront his mortal enemy. Intending to give her a piece of his mind. _

"_Tomato Freak!!" Sasuke yelled, pushing himself into the tent as Hinata turned around and faced him. Smacking her face right into his as their lips collided against one another……._

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**CHAPTER 8: ALL BECAUSE OF A KISS (PART 1)**

**The next morning:**

"What happened to them?" Anko whispered to Kakashi, pointing her head at the two silent teenagers at the last table. Apparently, both Duck and Tomato were pretty……quiet during breakfast that their teachers noticed the sudden wave of 'silence'.

Usually, there were some petty and sarcastic comments followed by deadly insults and loud yelling could be heard, and sometimes things were thrown against one another that required physical restraining to hold them down, but today, surprisingly, there were……..none.

"I don't know," Kakashi admitted, peering at the two young ones. "I think something happened last night." He chuckled softly.

Anko's eyes widened in surprise and started to draw out her kunai and glared at the silver-haired jounin.

"Kakashi…." She began, glaring dangerously at the silver haired jounin. "If that gaki(**1**) did something hurtful to Hinata-chan…."

Kakashi sweat dropped at the armed kunoichi next to him.

"I don't think Sasuke would go that far with Hinata-chan since they detest one another."

"I hope you know what you're talking about, Kakashi…," Anko gave a dangerous warning to the panicked looking jounin.

_Why me?_ Kakashi looked up in exasperation.

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"Gaara," Temari began. "Aren't you going to eat your breakfast?"

"Hn." Gaara replied, still crossing his arms across his chest. His expression was as stoic as a statue, gazing hatefully at the oatmeal in milk.

"He wants meat," Kankurou whispered to his sister.

"He can't have _meat_, here!" Temari whispered back. "The meal schedule was already decided beforehand and this is not goddamned Suna!"

"Can't you talk to Shuuna-san? And get her to talk to the Konoha nins about it?"

"Why don't you just tell it to Baki, instead?"

While the two older Sabaku siblings were wrangling it out, everyone else seemed to have quite a bit of fun with one another. Apparently, the shyer Suna genins have made new friends with the much more exuberant Konoha genins, headed by none other…..

Naruto and Konohamaru……The Dynamic Duo of the Leaf….

_Not_ the _other_ Dynamic Duo….(**A/N: Gai and Lee**)

While everyone was having their breakfast, Naruto and Konohamaru began their 'networking' by introducing themselves to the shy Suna genins and got them to open up through his 'unusual' display of klutziness and humour. And at the sidelines, Sakura, Moegi and Udon were just gaping at the other two. Not wanting to left behind, Lee's attempt at 'springs of youth' merely gotten the children to hide behind their senseis in fear.

Much luck on Lee's attempt…..

At the same time as everyone was enjoying the display between Naruto and Konohamaru, Hinata was helping Hana by distributing food packs to both the Konoha and Suna genins when she came upon Gaara's table.

Looking at Gaara's untouched oatmeal, she received a nervous look from both Temari and Kankurou who flinched slightly everytime Gaara moved.

"Is there a matter, Kankurou-san?" Hinata asked in her polite voice, noticing Kankurou's flinching.

"Err….nothing, Hinata-san," Kankurou replied as he received a smack from Temari.

Hinata giggled and then looked at Gaara, who was still staring angrily at the oatmeal as if he was having a glaring contest.

"Something…wrong…Gaara-san?" Hinata asked innocently.

All Suna nins held their breath.

_Oh Kami-sama….. _Temari was praying.

_If You're up there, now is a good time for that divine intervention You're really famous for….._ Kankurou looked up.

"I. Don't. Like. Oatmeal." Gaara replied, without looking at Hinata.

"Oh," Hinata replied. "But oatmeal are good."

"I. Don't. Like. Oatmeal." He repeated with a deadpanned expression.

_Good….not his homicidal expression._ Kankurou thought.

Hinata looked at him innocently and replied softly, "But oatmeal helped….make your…your body….strong."

Gaara's aquamarine eyes gazed up at her.

Aquamarine met pearl.

Kankurou was holding his breath and Temari was squeezing his neck tighter.

Far across the room was beautiful Shuuna Rhai, holding tightly onto the obviously blushing Iruka.

And by the window was the amber-eyed Inuzuka Hana, squeezing the life out of the packed food, and she was glaring dangerously at the beautiful Rhai and her childhood crush Iruka.

_Not fair!! Not fair!! Not fair!!_ Hana was biting her lower lip. _Why can't he blush at me like that?_

"Ne, Hana-sensei, are you going to give us our packed food now?" Konohamaru asked, pointing towards the packed food.

"Ne, can I have the new one? You've squished that one you're holding," Moegi said.

Hana blushed slightly, obviously embarrassed being caught in that situation.

"Ne, Hana-sensei," Konohamaru grinned at her. "If you dressed a bit sexily, I bet Iruka-sensei would ditch her and go for you. You have great legs!"

Hana was twitching. _He is really Sandaime's grandson alright….._

But looking back at Iruka and then at her long pants. _I guess that brat was right. I think I'll change my wardrobe….its about time I need to do some shopping….._

Then Hana took a glance at Iruka. _I'll make sure he'll have a jaw-dropping, eye-popping and tongue-flapping experience of his life!! Wait Iruka-kun, till you'll see the new Inuzuka Hana!_

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"Hn." Gaara replied.

"Its true, and it tasted nicer if you add some honey in it," Hinata replied innocently, totally unaware of the shocked expressions from the other Suna nins. By taking the bottle of honey, Hinata squeezed some of the sweet golden liquid into Gaara's oatmeal and stirred it gently before scooping some into the spoon and held it out for Gaara.

Temari's eyes widened and Kankurou stopped breathing.

Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Come on. Try it, Gaara-san. It is very, _very_ nice," Hinata was enticing Gaara to take a bite of his breakfast. Dealing with Gaara was like dealing her sister, cousin and father at the same time. They are categorized under moody and unpredictable to which is no problem to Hinata.

Gaara remained impassive. Glaring angrily at the golden coloured oatmeal as if it was some body part of an evil sludge monster, Gaara sneered at it.

Like a cute little raccoon.

"Kawaii!" Hinata gushes and Temari almost lost consciousness.

"She called Gaara…..ka….ka…wa…ii??" Temari croaked.

Kankurou fainted.

It seemed to Temari that this Hinata girl did not know about Gaara's terrible past, and also Gaara's craving called 'bloodlust'.

Hinata refused to budge and continue to nudge the spoon at Gaara's direction while pouting cutely. Usually that would work with Neji and her father, and she was trying to use it on Gaara.

Looking at the honeyed oatmeal in milk, Gaara was curious as to how it taste, when Hinata said, "If you don't trust me, here, I'll show you."

She took a bite from the spoon and licked her lips innocently in front of Gaara. Tracing her little pink tongue around her pink lips, Gaara's aquamarine pools stared at it as if he was hypnotized. Everyone was simply stunned silent by such display. Especially those from Suna who stayed far away from Gaara as possible.

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"Does she know how damn erotic that is to men??" Anko muttered.

Kakashi just shook his head dumbly and gazed at the unusual scene taken place. Noting a fuming little raven-haired duck butt at the corner.

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Sakura was giggling at the display while Naruto scratched his head absently.

"What's so funny about that?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, don't you know how daring Hinata is??" Sakura gushes, wishing she could just do that to Sasuke without Sasuke glaring at her. "Oh….this is so cute!!"

"What's so daring and….cute…with goin' up to that red-head and offered him some oatmeal? I know ramen is the bestest ever!"

**SMACK!**

"Don't. Talk. About. Ramen!" Sakura muttered darkly, giving Naruto another clobber.

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Hinata glanced back at Gaara and scooped up more and held it out to Gaara. Cocking his head to the side slightly, he frowned a little and rather hesitantly ate from the same spoon which Hinata took a bite earlier on.

"It taste…..nice," Gaara said. "Sweet." Gaara's aquamarine pools were now focusing on the bowl of honeyed oatmeal.

"Hai!" Hinata smiled as she put down the spoon and clapped her hands excitedly. _Mission accomplished!_ Hinata grinned. Unknown to her that a certain raven haired teen was seething with envy…..

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"Awwww…..ain't that sweet??" Anko gushes at the sweat-dropped Kakashi.

Out of everyone in Konoha, only Kakashi knew who and what Gaara was.

Code named 'the Beast of Suna', Sabaku no Gaara have never failed his mission or anything. Always cold with icy exterior, Gaara was unlike any other person in Suna. A body of a child but a mind of an adult, Gaara was rather unpredictable.

And to see sweet Hinata spoon-feeding the Beast of Suna is something very……..unusual.

"_Sweet?_" Baki paled and then looked at Anko. "Anko-san, my heart is not as young as it used to be."

"Of course it is! But don't worry Baki-san. Nothing terrible happened…..only that Gaara-kun and Hinata-chan apparently shared a kiss!" Anko grinned wickedly.

"A kiss?" Baki sweated. "Anko-san, Gaara and 'kiss' doesn't go into the same book"

"Oh, what you see is what you get!"

"I think I must be dreaming," Baki muttered, hitting his head with a file folder. "I have to wake up! I have to wake up! And it was not a kiss!"

"Yup! An indirect kiss, poppet!" Anko winked at him. "Too bad its not a direct one though."

For _that _mere ten eternal seconds, Baki prayed for salvation…..in hope that Gaara wouldn't do anything…..impulsive…..or…..destructive.

**Crrrraacckkkkkk….**

Both Anko and Baki turned their head and saw Sasuke broke his wooden spoon and continued to crush the poor thing to bits.

"Kiss??" Sasuke was growling, glaring hatefully at Hinata and Gaara. "_Kiss???_"

_Damn it!! First Nii-san, now that redhead asshole??!_ _Why does she __**always**__ have to attract those goth-emo-dangerous types!_ Sasuke was fuming.

Sasuke was furious, looking at how Hinata smiled sweetly at Gaara. _Why can't she smile like that at me?? I know her longer than him!!_ He whined to himself, totally oblivious at the grinning Kakashi who was observing him silently.

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"Why did you put the spoon down?" Gaara asked. "I did not order you to put it down."

"Heh?"

Everyone at Gaara's table was staring at her now.

"Why?" She asked back.

"Hn." Gaara replied, looking down at the spoon in the bowl and back at her again.

"You…you…want mmm…me…to….to….feed…_you_?" Hinata asked, her eyes widened incredulously at Gaara's unusual request.

"Hn."

Hinata giggled and sat before Gaara, spooning another scoop of honeyed oatmeal to Gaara.

Kankurou fainted right beside Temari.

Not far away, a certain green-eyed Uchiha has reached his boiling point.

"TOMATO FREAK!! HOW DARE YOU FLIRT AROUND SHAMELESSLY LIKE THAT!" Sasuke jumped up from his seat and pointed accusingly at Hinata.

Hinata was twitching madly as she got up angrily and turned to face Sasuke.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? FLIRTING AROUND SHAMELESSLY?? WHAT'S YOUR FREAKIN' PROBLEM DUCK BUTT!!"

"HAH!! TOMATO FREAK!! DIDN'T YOU KNOW YOU'RE GIVING HIM AN INDIRECT KISS!!" Sasuke was already yelling and veins were popping out at the side of his head. "YOU GAVE HIM A FUCKING KISS! A _KISS_!!"

Hinata was fuming by now, totally furious at Sasuke's allegations. _What the hell is wrong with that brainless idiot?!_ Hinata retorted back hotly, "IF I WANT TO GIVE HIM A KISS, WHAT IS IT TO _YOU_??"

"HE DOESN'T DESERVE YOUR KISS, YOU TOMATO FREAK!"

"WHY CAN'T I?? _JEALOUS_ NOW EH, DUCK BUTT" Hinata smirked and crossed her arms across her huge chest when she realized how much it affected Sasuke and decided to use it against him.

Everyone turned to Sasuke and looked at him.

"Teme's jealous?" Naruto murmured out of the blue, looking at Sasuke in disbelief.

_Oh no!_ Sakura couldn't believe her ears.

Both Sakura and Naruto looked at Sasuke who was seething with anger and the 'Uchiha patented glare' was not directed towards Hinata. It was directed towards……Gaara!

In conclusion, Sasuke _did_ in fact acted like a jealous fool.

Naruto jaw-dropped. "You mean that that block of ice with a foot long stick up his ass is….jealous??" He then grinned naughtily and added, "Well, its about time that teme got his block of ice melted! And by the looks of it, all those arguing and beating does bring back sweet memories, ne Sakura-chan???"

Sakura was twitching and yelled, "Who the hell would think beating and arguing brings sweet memories!! Baka!!" With that she gave a huge knockout to Naruto.

Now, the junior genins and their guests from Suna were looking in amusement. Now, they have another warring teens to worry about and to the Suna nins, they were pretty amusing.

After Sakura had clobbered Naruto to her satisfaction, Naruto looked at Sasuke with a foxy grin despite the blackened eyes, bruised cheeks and mountains of bruises on his head, "Gambatte teme!! And I still can't believe you're jealous of Gaara! Heh!"

Anko and Kakashi grinned obviously.

Rhai and Iruka looked confused.

Baki and Hana were speechless.

Temari was fanning Kankurou.

"JEALOUS? _JEALOUS???_" Sasuke demanded, his face was menacingly red, and everyone could see his veins popping out from the corner of his head. "WHY AM I JEALOUS WHEN YOU KNOW I'M A PERFECTLY _BETTER_ KISSER THAN _HIM_!!" Sasuke was pointing angrily at the amused looking Gaara, who was perfectly licking from the wooden spoon.

Everyone looked at Sasuke again with a confused expression on their faces.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto looked confused, cupping his bruised cheeks.

Sakura looked hurt and angry at the same time. She couldn't believe that Sasuke and Hinata had had their kiss together. Sakura felt hurt and at the same time angry because she begin to realized that she is losing her first crush to someone less……pretty than her!

Hinata was way beyond pissed as she got up onto the chair and up onto the table and shouted, "YOU'RE THE _WORST_ KISSER EVER!! I HATE THE WAY YOU KISS ME AND ITA-NII IS A HELL LOT BETTER THAN _YOU_!!"

Sasuke was trembling with rage. "You. Kissed. Aniki?"

Izumo could've sworn he had smell smoke coming from Sasuke.

Hinata's pale pearly eyes gazed hotly at Sasuke back. "He….is….a….hell….of…a….kisser! You _loser_!"

With that he ran towards Hinata only to find himself thrown down onto the floor after Hinata maneuvered only to kick his legs off as she straddled onto his stomach and started strangling him. He responded by strangling her back as the two young ones rolled on the floor.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" the younger genins were all cheering including Naruto who was leading both Suna and Konoha genins while Sakura was trying to stop both Hinata and Sasuke.

**SMACK!!**

"Itai!! Itai!!" Naruto rubbed his bruised head when Sakura's knuckles gave an impact onto his skull.

"Stop being a baka and stop the fight, Naruto!" Sakura demanded, pointing towards Sasuke and Hinata while looking extremely worried at her raven-haired crush.

Before Naruto could do anything, Kakashi, Anko and a few instructors pulled the two very warring and angry teens.

Kakashi, Izumo and a brown-haired Suna nin held onto the struggling Sasuke, while Hana, Anko and a blond Suna nin held onto the harpy Hinata. Both teens were still yelling and screaming at one another.

"Let me at 'im!!" Hinata was clawing at Sasuke's direction. "Just let me at 'im!!"

"Oh yeah! Give me your best shot you dumb Tomato! You can't even throw shuriken right!"

"Ohhhhh….you think you're so gooooooooooooood at it, don't you? Ita-nii said you can't even throw five shurikens at once! Loser!"

_Why does Aniki have to tell her about that!_ Sasuke whined inwardly. Sulking at the thought of his own brother sold him out to his arch-nemesis.

Sasuke was gritting his teeth in annoyance and replied, "Hah! At least I'm not the weakest heiress in her own freakin' white-eyes clan!!"

Hinata threw her head backwards was screaming in rage and yelled back, "Ita-nii have better manners than you'll ever be, Duck Butt!! And he's a hundred…no….million times better than you'll ever be!" Then she narrowed her eyes to almost akin to malicious slits, "You. Can. Never. Be. As. Good. As. Ita-nii!!"

"Ouch," Anko was grinning at the side and Kakashi rolled his eyes upwards.

"You think you're so great huh Tomato Freak!! You're as bad as I am! Freakin' loser! You can't even beat the crap out of your own baby sister!!"

Hinata glared hatefully at Sasuke.

Sasuke grinned triumphantly because he knew he had hit a sensitive spot.

Kakashi gave Anko a look and she nodded her head in understanding as both Anko and Kakashi could no longer fathom the childish quarrels.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" Anko yelled as the entire dining hall felt the walls were shaking and the floor went trembling with Anko's loud penetrating voice. Both Hinata and Sasuke stopped their trading of insults and looked at the sharp-eyed spiky haired Mitarashi Anko.

A very formidable and dangerous kunoichi, Mitarashi Anko herself is a self-spoken legend. With abilities almost similar to Orochimaru, Anko was feared not because of her passion for the forked tongued reptiles, but most of all, her extremely wicked collection of vocabulary enhanced through her penetrating voice.

In Konoha nin's terms; don't mess with Anko.

"Its not Hinata-chan's fault, Anko-sensei! Sasuke-teme provoked her first!" Naruto said out loud, but was nudged hard at the ribs by Sakura.

Very hard.

"Naruto bakayaro!! Of course its _her _fault! If not, Sasuke-kun wouldn't have those bruises on his handsome face!" Sakura yelled at him as she ran to Sasuke's side and began touching a slight bruise on his cheeks.

"Get away from me Haruno!" Sasuke yelled, trying to get away from Sakura while Hinata had a sad look on her face when she heard how Sakura blamed her for Sasuke's injuries.

"Don't be rude to Sakura-chan, teme!" Naruto yelled back.

"I think I'm going to have a headache," Baki murmured, taking a seat besides Gaara while Temari was still fanning poor Kankurou.

_To think that raising and teaching the Sabaku siblings were bad._ Baki thought to himself, but when he saw how Kakashi rolled his eyes upwards in absolute frustration, he could not help but grinned at the Copy Ninja Kakashi.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata!" Iruka muttered angrily. "I am bitterly disappointed at you!" Iruka came marching towards them, with Rhai right behind him. He turned to Rhai and apologised. "I am very sorry for having you to witness such….such…..behaviour!" Iruka bowed slightly.

"It is alright Iruka-kun, I understand. I sometimes have this sort of a problem to deal with as well," Rhai replied softly.

_Iruka-kun????_ Hana was now squeezing Hinata's arms tightly. Her heart was twisting with jealousy at the gorgeous looking Suna jounin who was standing beside _her_ Iruka!

Both Hinata and Sasuke were still glaring accusingly at one another, not noticing that everyone was looking at them.

Except for Gaara, who was happily eating his newfound gastronomic sensation.

Except for Temari, who was still fanning her unconscious puppeteer of a brother.

Except for Hana, who was burning with jealousy to notice anything.

"Look where you got us To-ma-to Fr-eak," Sasuke muttered accusingly, emphasizing her nickname.

"Its your fault you stupid idiotic Duck Butt," Hinata hissed back.

Iruka was already developing a huge headache the size of Africa until Rhai placed a hand on his shoulder.

Hana was squeezing Hinata's arm.

"Owww," Hinata closed her eyes in pain.

"Shut it the two of you," Anko reminded them threateningly giving an eye to Kakashi.

Kakashi shudders…….in fear.

Then, turning to Hana, Anko said, "Hold onto Hinata, Kakashi, Iruka and I have to discuss something with Ebisu in the office."

"Shouldn't you be bringing them as well?" Hana asked.

"Nope," Kakashi said. "The office is such a small area and for them to have it at each other is a possibility."

Kakashi released his hold of Sasuke and went out of the hall with Anko and Iruka to meet with Ebisu.

"Hai," Hana replied, still gripping Hinata's arms but released the pressure from earlier.

Sasuke still glared angrily at Hinata, "You just had to go and kiss that redhead's ass, don't you, you Tomato Freak?" Then, he sneered, "You're not good enough you freakin' tomato, not even good enough for my Nii-san."

Hinata glared balefully at the insulting younger Uchiha.

"Stop that Sasuke." Izumo warned, still holding the struggling Uchiha Spare.

"Why should I?" Sasuke replied. "She's weak for a Hyuuga! And she can't even beat her own baby sister!"

Hinata froze and looked down.

Sasuke smirked. Reveling at Hinata's crestfallen expression, pretty much satisfied knowing for a fact that he got Hinata where he wanted her to be.

_That's what you get for kissing that redheaded emo. _Sasuke said to himself. His coal black eyes frowned at the oblivious redhead who was enjoying his oatmeal and was reaching for his sibling's bowl as he chucked his away.

"Trusting Tomato Freak to do anything right," he taunted her. "She can't even kiss right!"

Some of the genins were snickering and Hinata looked ashamed at how she let Sasuke taunt her further. Biting her lower lip to stop herself from shedding any tears, Hinata glared ominously at the offending Uchiha, she muttered back angrily, "As if you know how to kiss?" She was panting now. "You suck at kissing Duck Butt!!"

_How dare he!! That stupid ingrate useless Duck Butt!!_ Hinata was practically yelling inside to herself.

She didn't know why Sasuke like taunting her so much, but tears begin to form in her eyes. All those hurtful words by Sasuke really hurt her deep. If only Itachi knew about it, but Hinata didn't want to worry Itachi and she also knew Itachi would hurt Sasuke. But why in Kami's name is she defending him??

_I must be a bigger idiot if I stand to defend him!_ Hinata thought. She then glared again at her mortal enemy, holding her tears in check and remembered what Itachi had told her the day before she left for camp.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**Flashback:**

_When Hinata opened her eyes, the only thing she saw was the concerned look on Itachi's face. Her pale pearly eyes looked around. She was lying down on the grassy bank of a small stream, and she smiled. It was the place where he first showed her. _

_Her mother's roses._

"_Are you alright, Hina-chan?" Itachi took her hand in his._

_Hinata blushed as she bit her lower lip._

_Itachi smirked. Pulling Hinata towards him and crushed her into his hard chest._

_Hinata was blushing……like a beacon!_

"_A..ano….ano….Ita-nii?"_

_Itachi bury his face into Hinata's hair and held her tightly as he whispered closely into her ear, "Hina-chan, remember my question?"_

_Hinata gasped softly and nodded her head slowly. Feeling slightly embarrassed being in Itachi's arms like that. It felt very…..comfy….and…..warm. And Hinata liked it very much._

_Itachi swore he felt Hinata's heartbeat. It went so fast that he could actually feel her body trembled. Itachi smirked to himself and pulled her closer. He had that knowing smile that Hinata responded to his touch and also to his feelings._

_Cupping her face with her hands, Hinata also could not believed that she actually passed out when Itachi showed her the eternity ring. _

_Noticing Hinata's flushed face, Itachi smirked as he held the ring right before her. _

_Hinata gasped and blushed furiously._

_Made of platinum with an embedded diamond at the centre, one could have mistaken it for an engagement ring, to which Itachi had purposely bought it._

_Her pearly eyes widened when Itachi took the ring and put it in her hands._

"_I know it might be too soon for you to answer me, Hina-chan. And I hoped you'll keep this ring until you can answer me."_

_Hinata's eyes softened as she put her hands to the back of her neck and pulled a strand of white gold chain from her neck and showed Itachi a white gold locket. She then stringed the ring onto her necklace and let it dangled together with the locket._

"_I….I'l….keep it safe here, Ita-nii," Hinata replied softly, holding the ring and locket in her small hands. Grasping it as if it was something precious to her._

_Hinata looked up at him shyly and murmured softly, "Ar…ari…ariga…tou Ita…nii…." She thanked him. "For this…..precious…gift."_

"_Its okay Hina-chan," Itachi smiled, pulling Hinata's hand into his. _

"_You…don't mind….waiting, ne?" she asked softly._

"_I can wait for your answer. Even if it takes years, I will wait for you."_

_Hinata gasped out loud. Putting a hand to her mouth in shock, Hinata never expected that level of devotion Itachi showered her. Hinata knew how caring and observant Itachi was with her, but this feelings were entirely new with her. Not only was Itachi caring, kind and gentle with her, he also listens to her problems and was always there for her whenever she was feeling down. _

"_Hina-chan," Itachi said. _

_Hinata looked up at him. _

"_Promise me one thing?" _

"_Hai."_

"_Would you promise to only look at me and not at anybody else?"_

_Hinata cocked her head aside and find the question…….amusing._

_She chuckled. "What do you mean by that, Ita-nii?"_

_Itachi stiffened for a moment and looked slightly bewildered and flustered at the same time, was thinking really hard because Hinata noticed the heavy frown Itachi was wearing on his forehead._

_Before he answered Hinata, Itachi sighed momentarily, "Its nothing Hina-chan," he answered, pulling her into his chest and proceed to hug her whilst stroking her silky smooth locks._

_Hinata giggled as she put her arms around him and snuggled closer. "You're really weird, Ita-nii!"_

_He smiled gently and stroked her silky head. "I just worry about you, my little one."_

"_Why?"_

"_Well, you'll be away for two weeks and I'll miss having you around."_

"_To bully you mean?"_

_Itachi laughed. "That is Sasuke's department."  
_

_Hinata frowned. "I don't care about Duck Butt!"_

"_Well, I do," Itachi said, kissing her on the forehead. "He is my otouto, and I'd like him back in one piece please."_

"_I thought you and Duck Butt have this rivalry going on?"_

"_Oh? Is that pretty obvious, Hina-chan?"_

"_A-ha," Hinata nodded her head cutely. "I remember how Duck Butt was always saying that he wanna beat you," Hinata paused briefly and looked at Itachi. "Will you be alright, Ita-nii? You won't lose to Duck Butt, would you?"_

_Itachi turned his handsome face towards Hinata and smirked cheekily, "Of course I won't, Hina-chan. I'll never lose to my otouto."_

_Hinata beamed him a bright smile._

"_But Hina-chan," Itachi asked._

"_Hai, Ita-nii?"_

"_What will you give me, say, if I win over Sasuke?" Itachi looked at her. His dark eyes was trying to absorb Hinata's very expression. Trying to read her body language, to be exact._

_Hinata smiled impishly at him and pulled out her necklace._

"_If you beat Duck Butt, I…I….I'll…accept….this…ring."_

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Her pearly orbs glittered more dangerously this time. As if she was challenging him back, Hinata leaned closer and nearer and hissed venomously, "You're a loser compared to Itachi-nii. And when he proves that you are a loser, I'm gonna…err….marry him! Yeah! I'll be marrying Ita-niichan!"

Sasuke was stunned by the fury of her response, that he could feel pain piercing his heart when he heard how she compared him to his older brother.

And worst, _she_ was going to marry _his_ Aniki!

"Hell no!!" Sasuke yelled back. _There is no way Aniki is going to take away what really belongs to me! She belongs to me and that is final!_

"Oh yeah?" she replied icily. "You think you're so great huh, Duck Butt?? Well, I don't think you are or will ever be." Hinata pushed Hana away from her and strode away from Sasuke's direction and headed towards Gaara.

She cupped his face in her small dainty hands and turned it towards her, smacking her rosebud lips directly over his.

Gaara's eyes widened.

Baki clutched his chest.

Temari fainted.

Next to Kankurou.

**-TBC-**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Gaki brat

**A/N: So, what do you think our dear Duckie is going to do next??? Hehehehe….**

**You know, I had a funny dream the other day, that Naruto was made into feature film, and guess what?? Jonathan Rhys-Meyer was Neji!!!! (faints) Oh man….the lips……I just love how Kishimoto draws Neji's lips…..heehehehe….. Oh yeah, most of my dream consisting of Neji and guess whose Hinata?? Kristin Kreuk!!! Aarrghhh…..beautiful pair….too bad my dream did not extend to Naruto or Sasuke or Itachi!! Hahahaha…. **

**heavenleehime, now you know to what extent my obsession with Neji goes huh??? And why the heck am I writing SasuHina fics?? **


	10. All Because of a Kiss Part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**A/N: Yeahh!! I know this is so long overdue! To cut the long story short, pls read them in my profile page….I know the waiting period was long, but hopefully this would make up for the lost of time….I really hate it when I accidently deleted my Update Folder like TWO freakingly stupid times! Okay, enough ramblings….**

**Warnings: Bad language, bad grammar, strong Hinata only when Sasuke's around….hihihi…**

* * *

**Recap:**

_She cupped his face in her small dainty hands and turned it towards her, smacking her rosebud lips directly over his._

_Gaara's eyes widened._

_Baki clutched his chest._

_Temari fainted._

_Next to Kankurou._

* * *

**CHAPTER 9: ALL BECAUSE OF A KISS (PART 2)**

"Tomato Freak."

"Duck Butt."

"Ugly tomato."

"Duck-tard."

"Red. Face. Freak."

Hinata twitched.

"Gay. Emo. Duckling."

Sasuke twitched.

"STUPID STUTTERING TOMATO FREAK!"

Hinata twitched.

"SUPER MORONIC SEXIST EMO!"

"SUPER STUPID UGLY FREAK TOMATOOOOO!!" Went another octave.

"SUPER MEGA ULTRA GAY MORON DUCK BUTTTTT!!" Going up another notch.

* * *

"So Kakashi, how are you going to handle _that_??" Izumo looked at sighing Kakashi.

"Ebisu will handle them. Its his jurisdiction, after all."

"Oh no you won't, Hatake Kakashi!" Ebisu yelled at the silver-haired jounin as he emerged from the corner. "We have decided for you and Anko to take full responsibility for today's event, and that includes their punishment. After all, the two of you have been appointed as their guardians in this camp."

"Well, Anko can take the responsibility, they listen to her."

"Not so fast, Kakashi-senpai," Ebisu raised his shades higher. He was grinning. "You and Anko will have to monitor them, separately from the rest of us. Meaning that, both of you will be spending more time together."

"Meaning?" Kakashi doesn't like the sound of it.

"Meaning that, you and Anko will be sharing a tent together with your charges."

Izumo chuckled. "You need to get laid, Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed. _Damn….I'm screwed….._

* * *

When Shuuna Rhai finished passing the instructions to her junior instructors, she suddenly felt a nagging feeling that someone was staring at her. Listening to her gut instinct, she turned around, only to find herself looking into a pair of soft brown eyes belonging to a Konoha Chuunin, Umino Iruka. The camp supervisor.

Iruka blushed furiously and turned away, fearing he might anger the beautiful kunoichi he came to admire at first sight.

"She's beautiful, ne?" Anko said, joining him at his table.

"Hai," Iruka sighed wistfully.

"C'mon Iruka!" Anko nudged him. "Just go up to her and ask her out for dinner!"

"Its not as easy as it seems, Anko. Besides, I'm not you."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Anko glared at him, picking her teeth with a senbon.

Iruka sweatdropped. "Err….I meant, I'm not as brave as you, Anko. You're not afraid to ask and no one ever rejects you."

Anko laughed. "Its more like no one _dares_ to reject me!"

"Yeah," Iruka smiled. "Except Kakashi."

Anko frowned and then she grinned. "Kakashi is a challenge, and I revel in challenges. But one day, he'll submit to me."

"How sure are you about it?"

"Ibiki refused to make a bet with me."

"Then, he is a wise man."

"Hey!" Anko hit him on the arm. "Just go and ask her, idiot. She won't be here long. After this camp is done, she's gonna pack off back to Suna."

Iruka sighed. "I'm afraid."

"Of what??" Anko rolled her eyes at the timid young man.

"What if….she rejects me?"

"If she rejects you, she wouldn't be blushing herself to the moon, won't she?"

"Huh?" Iruka looked perplexed.

"Iruka," Anko sighed. "For a very talented shinobi like you, you're remarkably dense when it comes to this part of 'socialisation equilibrium'."

"What do you mean, Anko?"

"What I mean is that, I am willing to bet with you my entire S-rank savings that Rhai-san do like you back, idiot!!"

Iruka blushed heavily again. This time, he stole a look at Rhai only to find her staring at him and she quickly turned her head away. Iruka looked at Anko and she nodded her head.

"Will dinner and a stroll at the lake be adequate?"

"If the mood is right and the moon is out, it shouldn't be a problem for you, Iruka."

"Thanks Anko!" Iruka grinned sheepishly, walking towards the Suna kunoichi. He paused and then turned, looking at Anko. "For your information, Kakashi loves sweets, sake in the evenings and of course," Iruka winked. "He has fetish for bondage, blindfold and leather."

Anko blinked.

With that, Iruka left the feisty kunoichi to her wildest imagination.

"YATTAAAA!!" Anko screamed in delight. Thinking about all the things she would like to do to Kakashi when she get her claws into him.

* * *

**Somewhere at the Camp:**

"AAACHHOOOOOO!!!"

"Eeeewwwwww!!" Both Naruto and Sakura cringed in disgust.

"Gomen," Kakashi sighed.

* * *

**2 hours later:**

"Kankurou and Temari should be conscious by now," Baki said, putting down a scroll onto the table. His gaze fell upon his redhead student who sat by the window and looking out unto the star-filled sky.

"Baki-sensei," Gaara called out to his teacher.

"Yes, Gaara?"

"Have you ever kissed before?" Gaara asked without looking at his teacher.

Baki looked somewhat surprised. He knew how to answer Gaara no matter what his questions were, but such questions like these, he simply do not have the answer. Even the thought of Gaara and the word 'kiss' seemed odd enough, the mere idea of them in the same sentence is hardly believable.

_Perhaps….Hmmm….much is yet to be seen._ Baki thought for a moment.

"Why are you taking a long time to answer, Baki-sensei?" Gaara looked unemotional.

Much Baki wanted to hope for, but Gaara was still….

"Can't answer my question, sensei? Or are you afraid to answer?"

"Its not that, Gaara," Baki sighed, taking a seat.

"Why is that?" Gaara turned to face him. His expression was clearly impassively expressionless.

"Kissing and being kissed is two different thing."

"Hn."

Baki raised an eyebrow. "You seriously want me to explain this to you?"

"Hn." Gaara's expression was impassive as ever.

Baki sighed deeply again. _Its not my place to teach him about the birds and the bees…._

"Alright Gaara," Baki poured himself a cup of tea. "Kissing is like…uhh….expression."

"Expression?"

"Yes, expression."

"Of what?"

"Uhm…endearment or something akin to…uhh….love."

Gaara frowned deeply, "I hate love."

Baki twitched. "Ooookay."

"But, does that mean that Hyuuga girl loves me?"

Baki sweat dropped. "Well…"

"Since you said 'kissing' is a form of expression, and something akin to endearment, do you mean that she loves me."

"In a way."

"What way?"

_Crap…._ Baki swore. "Maybe the girl just likes you."

"But nobody likes me," Gaara's expression softened a little, but came back to his normal self when he glared at Baki. "Are you lying to me?" he demanded from his teacher.

"No." Baki looked solemn. _Trying_ to look solemn, actually.

Gaara's cool aquamarine gaze held Baki's in place.

"How do you feel after she kissed you, Gaara?" It was Baki's turn to ask. Curious was more like it.

Gaara looked troubled.

Baki thought of several alternative escape routes until he saw something he has not seen for a long time since his student, Yashamaru took in Gaara.

Gaara smirked. "I like it."

Baki sighed in relief. "I'm glad that you do."

Gaara frowned. "What do you do if you don't?"

"Well, if you don't like the kiss, that would mean you don't like it."

"But I like….it."

"That is good."

"Good?"

"Yes. It shows that you like her back."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I like her?"

"Yes, you like her."

"Hn."

"How do you feel after the kiss, Gaara?"

"I feel…..warm."

Baki looked surprised. He note the brief pause in Gaara's response.

Gaara frowned. "What?"

Baki smiled softly, "It's a good sign."

Gaara turned away from his sensei and looked out the window. "I think its nice here."

"Hn." Baki agreed, leaving his most dangerous pupil contemplating to himself. _Kami….there is hope after all…._

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" muttered a very furious young Uchiha, tossing the sackcloth down angrily and glared at the surprised looking Hyuuga. "I can't believe you even agree with that stupid old man!"

"_I_ did not agree with him!" Hinata lashed back. "It was _your_ stupid fault that _you_ got _us_ into this stupid mess, you stupid Duck Butt!"

"_My _fault??"

"Yeah! Your. Stupid. Fault!"

"If it wasn't because of you being so stupid to go kiss that…that…..goth redhead…we wouldn't be here cleaning up garbage dump for the rest of the camp!"

Hinata frowned darkly. "What does kissing Gaara-kun have to do with you?"

Sasuke clenched his fist and glared ominously at the pale eyed girl, not missing the suffix –kun in Gaara's name.

"Coz..coz….he…he….he's from Suna, that's why!" the young Uchiha yelled out, trying to look convince at his blurted out answer.

"What has he from Suna gotta do with me kissing him?" she demanded outright, throwing her sackcloth down next to Sasuke's abandoned one.

_Drats…._ Sasuke cursed.

"Hmmm…..very interesting Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said out of nowhere and gave a little wave at them.

"Wha…wha..what…are…you….you doing….he…here, Ka..Ka..kashi-sensei?" Hinata asked timidly.

"Tch," replied the youngest Uchiha.

"Mah….Sasuke-kun, is that how you respect your teachers?" Kakashi grinned behind his mask.

"What the hell you want, Kakashi?" Sasuke demanded ominously.

**SMACKK!!** Hinata smacked the back of Sasuke's head with a roll of old newspaper.

Kakashi sweatdropped, wondering where did Hinata found a roll of old newspaper.

"What the fuckin' hell was that for??" Sasuke demanded, glaring furiously at Hinata and rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't be disrespectful towards Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata glared back. "You're being very rude! And mind your foul language, Duck Butt!"

Kakashi grinned wider behind his mask. He was beginning to like how this was going on. Both Hinata and Sasuke were shouting and yelling towards one another and it was something you don't usually see unless you put them in the same room.

Long before Hinata joined their academy, Sasuke was most impassive block of ice (apart from his brother) he has ever known.

Even Itachi knew how to smile once a while, but Sasuke was really made out of ice, as if he does not have a nice bone in him. Under Kakashi's valuation, Sasuke was very unresponsive to anything, including Naruto. And since Hinata's presence in their school, he has never seen Sasuke lost his cool.

Totally.

Utterly.

Completely.

Kakashi smiled. Wickedly. Underneath his mask.

He now knows what exact is Uchiha Sasuke's weakness. Pretty obvious, isn't it? _Who would've thought?_ Kakashi chuckled.

He noted another presence nearby, but just chuckled at the thought of finding out Sasuke's weakness.

"What are you laughing at?" Sasuke demanded when he saw his teacher chuckling in amusement.

"Don't change the subject, Duck Butt!" Hinata waved her newspaper roll around like some kind of battle weapon.

"I'm not changing any freaking subject Tomato Freak!"

"Yes, you did! Now, what I tell you about 'respect'!"

"_You_? Telling _me_ about respect??" Sasuke yelled. "What do you know about respect?? You act like…like…a boy and…and….a slut when you kiss that redhead!"

"That redhead has a name, you moronic duck!" Hinata huffed. "And his name is Gaara!"

"Gaara is a terrible name."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Sasuke muttered. "Not as cool as mine! Uchiha Sasuke is a cool name," Sasuke smirked, fluffing his collar.

Hinata pretended to gag at the side when Sasuke touched his hair slightly.

"Gaara is a better name than yours, Duck Butt. Yours is like poison to my ears," Hinata fumed.

"Gaara sounds like some gay emo goth bastard to me."

"Well, at least his name does not have the word 'uke' in it!" Anko jumped down and walked languidly towards them. Her dark eyes glanced sharply at the silver-haired jounin.

Sasuke twitched madly.

Kakashi chuckled.

Hinata blinked.

"Mou….Anko-sensei," Hinata called to Anko.

Everyone looked at her.

"Hai! Hinata-chan?"

"What is 'uke'?"

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know….next chapter will be longer, I pwomish!!**


	11. The Love Struck Fools?

**Warning: Bad language, bad grammar, not Beta-d….**

* * *

**Recap:**

_Sasuke twitched madly._

_Kakashi chuckled._

_Hinata blinked._

"_Mou….Anko-sensei," Hinata called to Anko. _

_Everyone looked at her._

"_Hai! Hinata-chan?"_

"_What is 'uke'?"_

* * *

**CHAPTER 10: THE LOVE STRUCK FOOLS?**

"Did you feel that?" Izumo asked, looking around trying to pinpoint something.

"What?" Ebisu looked at him, peering from his signature sunglasses.

"Naahh….probably it was my imagination."

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought I felt a killer-wave just now."

"You're delusional."

"Don't get me started, perv."

* * *

Sasuke shrilled almost femininely, clutching his face in horror before hoisting the poor Hyuuga girl onto his right shoulder and ran out of the way as fast as he could, leaving a trail of sandy dust behind him.

Anko blinked.

Kakashi blinked.

"What the fuck was that?"

"It seemed that our little Hyuuga princess still live in a sheltered life, Anko."

Anko grinned maliciously, turning to Kakashi, "Do you know what will happen to our dear Ducky Ass-chan if his little Tomato hime-chan finds out?"

Kakashi looked at her wide-eyed. It is no doubt that Anko was definitely Orochimaru's prized pupil.

"Two words; absolute mayhem."

"Bingo!!" Anko laughed shrilly, rubbing her hands in absolute glee.

Quietly, Kakashi shudder. _Dangerous woman….dangerous dangerous woman.....  
_

* * *

"DUUCCKKKKKKKKKK BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!" Hinata screamed and hitting his back with her little fists. "PUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTT MEEEEEEEEEEE DOWWWWNNNN!!!!"

Sasuke ignored Hinata's wailing and continued running full speed ahead, dodging bushes and hedges, tree-hopping until he could not sense any chakra following them.

_I think its far enough now._ He said to himself before stopping at somewhere remotely unknown and then proceeded by dumping his mortal enemy unceremoniously to the ground.

"Ouuchh!!" Hinata rubbed her backside and glared balefully at her raven-haired nemesis. "What's your _stupid_ problem Duck Butt?! Have you gone insane? Ohhh…I'm sorry, I forgot you've lost your brain back there!"

"Hn." Sasuke acted indifferently, crossing his arms across his chest.

Hinata rolled her eyes upwards in irritation. She can't believe the audacity of this…this…_idiot_ in front of her. "You. Are. An. Idiot!" She got up and started walking back, ignoring the sharp looks hurled to her.

"Where are you going?" He demanded, offhandedly of course.

"I'm _not_ talking to you!" she replied, huffing angrily at him. "And if I had my kunai pack with me, I'd skinned you myself for what you did! Stupid Duck Butt!!"

"You're not going back there Tomato Freak."

"Hah! Says who?" Hinata stuck her tongue out at him before proceeding back to camp.

"Do you know your way back?"

"Of course I do. I'll just follow this way back, idiot."

"Baka," Sasuke grimaced. "You're not going to run away that easily. Besides, you're going the wrong way."

"Run away?" Hinata turned back. "Who was the one _who_ ran away just now, you duck ass jerk!"

"I was just...uhh...well...err...protecting…errr…you. You know. Standard...shi...shinobi guidelines! Yeah!" Sasuke murmured indecisively and yet sounding very unconvincing to the Hyuuga Heiress. _Great....what a lame excuse. As if she's going to buy that one...great job Sasuke...._

"And you expect me to believe that load of rubbish?" Hinata folded her arms across her chest, looking incredulously at her arch-nemesis.

Sasuke glared at her. "Why don't you just thank me and be done with it? I just saved your innocence."

Hinata's eyes slitted furiously. _Oh! The audacity……of this…this….jerk!_ "_Thank_ you? Thank _you_? THANK YOU??" Hinata went up an octave. "I...I...rather trust a man-eating snake than trust someone with the likes of you, Duck Butt! The day I trust you would be the day I die!!"

Sasuke glared back. "You should be lucky that I was there to stop Anko from..err...from polluting your...your....young mind! A simple thank you would be just fine and I accept your gratitude, Tomato Freak."

"Thank _you_? _You_??" Hinata looked at him in utter disbelief. "I prefer to die, thank you."

"Hey! I protected your modesty and innocence and this is what I get? Ungrateful bag of…of….rotten maggot infested tomatoes!"

"I can't believe Itachi-nii has _moron_ for a brother who so loves the shape of a duck's ass."

"Don't drag my Aniki into this...." Sasuke warned.

"Why not?" Hinata smirked, like Sasuke, she knew which buttons to push to annoy him.

"He's not _your_ nii-san! He's _my_ nii-san!" Sasuke shoved his index finger to himself gruffly.

"Of course he's not," Hinata replied coolly. "He is _my_ future fiancé. And I'm going to marry him! Nah!"

* * *

"Are you sure its going to work?" Anko raised an eyebrow.

"Of course!" Kakashi grinned from behind his mask. "Guaranteed to work!"

"I hope you didn't take the idea out from that perverted orange book of yours."

Kakashi sweat bullets. _How'd she know?_

"You owe us big, Kakashi," Pakkun replied coolly, looking at Kakashi.

"No problem Pakkun," Kakashi grinned, looking at his other nin dogs digging the ground.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kakashi...." Pakkun looked at Kakashi drily. "...and whatever you're planning, I hope it'll work. Not to mention you're going to pay for our spa treatments after this."

Anko smirked while holding a small jade coloured snake with golden amber eyes wrapped around her slim wrist. "And now you know why I'd prefer my reptilian babies compared to your pups, Kakashi." She kissed the top of her beloved pet's head.

"Don't start with me, Anko."

Anko giggled. "At least my baby here purrs delightfully than complaining."

Pakkun and Kakashi shudder.

"If she's your mate Kakashi, indirectly we'll be related to snakes. And you know we don't go well with…." Pakkun stole a look at Anko, "…snakes."

"Another mordant comment like that Pakkun, I'll dress you in pink tutus, tiaras and thong so you'll be the laughing stock of all the animal summons…." Anko threatened hissingly, "…..for you entire fucking lifetime."

And that kept Pakkun shut up for the entire day.

* * *

"Err….hi there, Rhai-sensei," Iruka greeted Rhai politely. A shy blush coloured a nice pink on his tanned cheeks.

"Hi, Iruka-sensei," Rhai replied warmly. She too had a shy blush across her cheeks. The rest of the Suna instructors left the two of them alone.

"Anou...do you need more help?" Iruka offered. "I..I...mean with all the genins around, I thought you....might need some...help."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Iruka scratched the back of his head. "I'm sure you know that our terrain here is different than those in Suna."

The young Suna kunoichi smiled and nodded her head, "Yes, my team and I had a discussion about it. We will need more briefing and organize some activities."

"I already have some activities listed and...." Iruka was explaining until his stomach growled. "Gomen-ne." He looked at her apologetically.

"Have you eaten yet, Iruka-san?"

"Err...not yet?"

"Maybe you ought to have something before you got gastric," Rhai looked worried.

"Err...uhm...would you like...err...to join me...perhaps?" Iruka was trying his best not to blush furiously, but it wasn't working. "I….don't feel that comfortable eating...all alone with you watching...you know?"

Rhai looked pleased and nodded shyly, "I'd love to....Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled in relief. _Thank you Kami...._

* * *

"Temari," Gaara called to his dark blond sister.

"Hai?" Temari looked slightly nervous.

"What do girls like?" he asked impassively.

Temari blinked.

"I don't like repeating myself," Gaara was getting impatient.

"Ah...well..."

"You're a girl." He was impassive.

"Of…of…course!" She trembled.

"What do girls like?"

"For...err...what occasion, Gaara?" Temari tried her best to control her stammer.

"Is there a need for occasion?"

"Of course there's a need," she explained. "Different occasions shows different type of gifts, if gifts you were thinking about."

"Hn."

"So....who is it for?"

Gaara frowned.

Temari jumped back slightly, holding the wall behind her.

"That girl."

"…"

"…"

"Oh! You mean the sweet girl who spoon-fed you?"

"Hn." Gaara twitched a little.

Temari didn't know whether she was dreaming or not, but this was certainly.....odd. Her demonic-possessed brother is exploring possible human interaction? The thought did not seem possible five minutes ago but now…..well, the chances for it to work has increased to fifty percent from zero!

Grinning to herself, "Well, it won't be hard Gaara."

Gaara's cool aquamarines locked in a gaze with his sister's amber ones. "Explain."

Temari resignedly sighed, thinking how to explain the intro to the world of the birds and the bees to someone like Gaara. "Girls like flowers Gaara, or toys like bunny rabbits, cute kitties and furry teddy bears. It'd be nice if you could get one of those do-it-yourself gifts. It has a more personal touch to it."

"Flowers? And teddy?"

Temari nodded her head. "Now, its not that hard, ne?"

"Hn." Gaara crossed his arms before strode out of the room with a newfound determination.

"Where are you going?"

"Get gifts," he answered without looking back.

"What happened?" Kankurou woke up, looking rather dazed at his sister. "Where is Gaara going?"

Temari was grinning widely, "He's going to get a gift to his little _girl_ friend." Temari made a inverted comma sign emphasizing on the 'girl' word.

Kankurou looked shocked, "I think too much excitement in a day is way too much for my system, Tem. My heart is not as young as it used to be, ya know?"

* * *

_What the fuck did she just say??_ Sasuke's brain went on an overdrive.

"Oh hell no!" Sasuke yelled at her. "You're not going to marry Aniki! Never! I won't let you!!"

"Says who?" Hinata taunted him. "He gave me _this_ ring!" She showed him the ring strung hanging from her necklace. "Itachi-nii gave this to me before I left for camp, and its a promise ring he says. Hah! Take that Duck Butt!"

_A...A....Aniki...._ Sasuke clenched his fists tightly. Fury gripped the young Uchiha, conflicting emotions swirled passionately with much rage. _I won't let you take away what is mine...she is mine first!  
_

He turned his attention to Hinata who was glaring back at him.

"Give it to me." He put out his hand to her.

"No!" Hinata refused.

"Give the damn ring to me!"

"Never!" Hinata held the ring protectively to her chest. "He gave it to _me_."

"Give the ring to me or else..."

"Or else what??"

"Or else I'll take it away from you!"

Hinata gasped and break for a run. And Sasuke followed closely behind her, determined to snatch the one thing that will bind his possession to his older brother, and he is not going to lose out to his aniki.

_Never....._

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Kakashi asked.

"What?" Anko looked up at him.

"Cries of help…."

Pakkun frowned, "They're coming this way."

Kakashi whistled to the rest of his nin-dogs. Covering the hole with leaves and twigs, the nin-dogs disappeared into thin air including Pakkun and the two former ANBUs took refuge about thirty feet away, amongst the canopies of leaves.

"Kakashi," Pakkun looked smugly.

"What now?"

"Just to let you know, I think I got a bad feeling about this."

"And you're telling me this _now_??"

"Well, I didn't want to interrupt you and your...err...lady friend."

"Pakkun..."

"Can the two of you shut the hell up??" Anko was irritated. "Keep it low! They're coming this way."

Pakkun and Kakashi looked at each other with Pakkun giving Kakashi a I-told-you-so look.

* * *

"Come back here Tomato Freak!!"

"Go away Duck Butt!!"

Sasuke increased his speed until he heard Hinata's high pitched scream. _What happened??_

He increased his speed until he saw a weird hole on the ground before him. He stopped and peered into the hole. Shocked and surprised, he screamed, "TOMATO!!!"

* * *

"What is the problem?"

Temari, Kankurou and Baki sweated bullets. Never in their life trying to agree with something has been this difficult. Ever before.

"Err…Gaara…I don't think...its..err..." Temari stammered at her youngest but dangerous little brother. "….errr….a go…goo…od….idea?"

Kankurou was trying his best to contain his laughter but failing miserably. He apologised frantically at Gaara and ran out of the room causing Temari to twitch and cussing him under her breath and confusion to their youngest sibling.

Baki sighed restlessly. _Why did their puberty have to hit at this time of my age??_

Gaara frowned darkly and closely to snarling.

"Gaara," Baki called out from his corner. "Self-control."

"Hn."

"Well, I think your gift is a little…uhmm....exotic, Gaara," Baki finally admitted.

Gaara frowned.

"Temari says girls like toys, so I made her a toy," Gaara looked down at his creation, expression still as impassive as usual.

"Yeah," Temari agreed. "Girls _do_ like toys, but….carving out a _teddy bear _from wood is a little….uhmm…exotic?" Almost squeaking at the end of her sentence.

Gaara looked down at the wooden carved figurine, "Girls like bears." It was not even a question. It was a statement. An edict.

"_Teddy_ bears, Gaara. _Not_ grizzly bears," Temari pointed out. "Like your Mister Bear, remember?"

"I can't give her this?" Gaara's sand held up the roughly sculpted bear the size of a ripe watermelon.

No one dared to answer that. Not even Baki.

Gaara already knew his answer. He destroyed the carved bear with his sands and stood up. "I'm going out."

"Where will you be going?" Baki asked, sipping his already lukewarm tea.

"Thinking."

"Not too long Gaara," Baki reminded.

"Hn."

Temari, Kankurou and Baki blinked. And blinked again before Kankurou and Temari both floored in relief while Baki steadied himself by the wall.

"I think this might work out for him," Temari smiled, looking at Baki.

"And I think you might be right on this Temari," Baki agreed, then smiled. _There maybe hope after all…._

* * *

"I think we can leave them for now," Kakashi observed.

"I still don't think it'll work, Kakashi," Anko frowned slightly. "What if she's really hurt or something?"

Kakashi turned his head slowly….at Anko. He shot her a suspicious look. "Are you sure you didn't hurt yourself Anko?"

"Are you insinuating something, Kakashi?" she snarled at the taller man.

"You sure don't sound yourself," he hopped down and started to walk away. "Its as if you're on your monthly again."

"Oh…and you think you men don't have your mood swings??"

Kakashi sighed deeply, finding it not worth his time in arguing with the feisty spiky-haired jounin.

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Scarecrow!" she growled menacingly at the silver-haired man.

"I'm not walking away, Anko," Kakashi grinned and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Just running away…"

Anko grinned slyly, twirling a kunai in her hand, "Oh no, Kakashi. You won't run away that easily…."

* * *

"Hey Tomato! You there?" Sasuke peered over the dark hole. It looked eerily dark. _Is she alright?? Did anything happened??_

Guilt started to eat up the young Uchiha.

"Naahhh….she probably deserves it," Sasuke started to walk off, and all of a sudden he turned around. "Maybe she'll need help?? Hah! Help that Tomato Freak?? What a waste of time! Why the hell would I wanna help that useless white-eyed freak??" Sasuke walked off again, fighting off his 'good' conscience.

….five seconds later….

…..ten seconds later…..

…..eleven seconds later…..

"What the hell…" He turned back and knelt down beside the hole. "Oi Tomato Freak! You okay down there??"

**Uhmmm….**

Sasuke heard a weak stirring from the dark abyss and automatically he knew it was her. _She's alright….._

Sighing in relief. _Thank Kami she' alright…._

Until he heard some bushes rustled.

_Shit…._

Sasuke cursed and jumped back into the green foliage and hid himself, masking his chakra from being detected.

* * *

Deep down the manmade hole, Hinata moaned in pain. Sharp intense pain shot up her frail frame stemmed mostly from the lower part of her body which came from her already wounded legs. Struggling to get up, Hinata tried to figure out what happened and where she was but the pain was too intense she fell back on her backside, down unto the dirty ground.

Looking what was around her, Hinata could only surmised that she must've fallen into a hole. Feeling around the ground, Hinata tried to sit up and managed to lean herself against the moist wall of earth, pondering what to do next. As she tried to move both her legs, a sharp severe pain shot through her left leg immobilize her movement altogether. Activating her Byakugan, she could see that broken her left leg and sprained her right ankle.

Hinata moaned in pain and tears automatically appear and streaked down her cheeks. A mixture of pain and frustration was too overwhelmed, causing her to sob louder.

"What am I going to do?" sobbing to herself. "No one will know I'm…here…Okaa-chan…please….someone…..please….." Hinata sobbed in her hands for quite some time. Until….

"Why are you crying?" Someone asked.

Hinata whipped her head up, only to find someone peering into the hole. She couldn't make out who was it, but the outline of the figure did give her some form of hope to be rescued.

_I'm saved!!_ She beamed happily. "Here! I'm down here! Help!"

Then Hinata could hear some sort of hissing sound and saw a trail of sandy dust filling down the hole and wrapped all around her fragile body. Tensing at the sensation of moving sand around the fragile state of her body, Hinata screamed in pain when the sand wrapped around her broken leg. Immediately the sand held her in a sitting position with her legs straightened out before lifting her out from the hole.

Hinata didn't know whether to either cry in joy or in pain. But the sight of her rescuer, tears of happiness trailed down her soiled cheeks, sobbing happily.

* * *

**A few hours later:**

"Are you sure you didn't have anything to do with this, Sasuke?"

"No."

"Hmmm…"

"I did not do anything, alright?!" Sasuke snapped at Kakashi.

"Fine."

"Are you just going to let him get away with this, Kakashi?" Iruka looked penetratingly at the silver-haired man.

"I mean, he didn't do anything of the sort…."

"But Hinata-chan is injured!"

"It was nothing serious, only a broken leg."

"Broken leg? _Broken_…._leg_??" Umino Iruka couldn't believe the audacity of his senior. "Let me tell you something Kakashi-senpai, _that_ broken leg did not only break but splintered through the skin and a few leg nerves were affected. That took three medic-nins to fix with their chakra! You better be glad that Hyuuga Hiashi isn't going to breathe down your neck!"

"Oh."

At the mere mentioned of Hinata's father, Sasuke immediately froze. _Oh crap…._

"And you, young man…" Iruka pointed out. "You were caught at the scene itself, hiding behind some bushes and not offering any help to your fellow shinobi but it has to take a foreign shinobi to help! Have you no shame, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke's head hung low. He knew he is going to be in more trouble than he already was when…

"I'm going to have to report you to your parents, Sasuke. And I'm sorry it has to come to this, but I'm going to have to confer with the rest of the teachers on what we are going to do with you for the rest of the duration. You're dismissed."

"Hai." Sasuke walked out of the room dejectedly. Then, Iruka's gaze fell to Kakashi.

"Somebody must've dug the hole purposely, Kakashi and I'm going to find out who and why."

Kakashi sweatdropped. _I'm dead._

"And Kakashi?"

"Yes Iruka?"

"I am going to need Pakkun's help with this."

_Damn it…I'm screwed._

* * *

**Camp's Infirmary:**

The door slid open slowly and Sasuke poked his head through. Looking at the sleeping Hinata, he treaded the floor carefully as to not waken up his little nemesis.

Sitting down on the wooden chair beside the bed, Sasuke's black onyx eyes stared at the all bandaged up girl and her leg in a thick plaster cast. He couldn't believe that he'd almost cause someone to die. But it shouldn't be hard because he is a shinobi, ne?

Shaking his head, Sasuke looked at Hinata breathing slowly. "Sorry, Tomato." He murmured softly, hoping that he could be heard and not embarrassing himself.

"She is sedated."

Sasuke turned around only to see Gaara standing by the darkened corner of the room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't it be me who ask you that question?"

Both continued to stare at one another until Gaara asked deeply, "Are you the one who cause hurt to her?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Hn."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because," Gaara looked menacingly evil as his sand swishing around in his huge gourd. "…if I found who did this to her, I will take it upon myself to avenge her."

Not feeling happy with the sudden declaration from the redhead, Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest. "Why do you do this? Who is she to you?"

Gaara smirked almost threateningly. "She is a friend." Then walked towards the bed and touched her cheek gently with the back of his hand. "She is not afraid of me. I like that."

"Take your hands off her!"

"And who is she to you, Uchiha Sasuke?" Gaara asked almsot snarlingly, his aquamarine gaze balefully at the young Uchiha.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenching his fists tightly that he felt blood dripping to the floor. Without realising it, the smell of blood permeated in the air causing the sands in Gaara's gourd to swirl in frenzy.

How could he answer that? How could he answer that simple question? Who is she to him? Why is she so nauseatingly annoying to him that he felt he wanted her all to himself? And what is this feeling churning deep down in his chest? Turning around, he ran out of the room, leaving Gaara's question unanswered.

* * *

"He is _WHAT_??" Kankurou exclaimed out loud while Temari blinked.

"Kankurou, I may be old but I'm certainly not deaf," Baki sighed. "He is protecting the Hyuuga girl."

"This isn't funny Baki-sensei," Kankurou pointed out. "I mean…this is Gaara we're talking about for Kami's sake!"

"Exactly my point," Baki poured himself a cup of tea. "Do you remember what he asked us not long ago?"

Both Temari and Kankurou looked at each other.

"You mean?"

"Yes, exactly that," Baki smiled. "I think this little girl might be the key to help Gaara."

"Is that even possible, Sensei?"

"Absolutely Temari," Baki sipped his tea. "Let's just hope things turned out for our love struck fool."

**- TBC -**

* * *

**A/N: My sincerest apologies for the longest delay ever. A lot of things happened and I thank you all who have reviewed, giving their opinions and sharing suggestions. Also thank those who favourite this story and also C2s who like this story. I'll try to update sooner and thank you for your patience. I hope the length of this chapter helps to satiate all of you. My next update is juggling between "If Only" and "Spring Memories". My thanx again to all for your patience and support!!**

**My apologies for the formatting, tried to adjust them in the page editor but it went haywire instead. I can't get anything underlined here. Really crap.  
**


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